


Open Wounds

by Twilight684



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-05-28 03:13:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6313177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight684/pseuds/Twilight684
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After finding Draco badly wounded, Harry takes him home and gives him a place to stay. Curious about how Draco ended up the way he was, Harry wants to call a truce in order to get closer to the blond. With Draco finally away from his family will things be able to change between him and Harry? Set in the summer before 6th year. HarryxDraco with a side of SiriusxRemus mixed in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

            Harry laughed at his friends as they made their way out of the Leaky Cauldron. Ron and Hermione had once again decided they needed to interfere in his love life and push him and Ginny together even though they both knew they’d never be more than friends. Sure, he’d thought about it, but he knew he didn’t like Ginny that way and he never could. Not only that but he had a feeling he wasn’t really into girls as much as he had assumed considering how it had affected him to walk in on Sirius and Remus making out once.

            He’d yet to tell his friends his thoughts on that so they obviously continued to meddle, and since he and Ginny were both getting tired of it he had just blurted out, “Has it ever occurred to you that I might not be into girls?”

            This of course had left them speechless, even Ginny, for several moments until they all finally began bombarding him with questions all at once.

            Now that he couldn’t stop laughing at them they seemed to be thinking he’d been joking and so they began laughing with him and telling him he really had them going for a minute there. He didn’t want to lie to his friends, but he didn’t really want to admit he hadn’t been joking either since he really wasn’t sure himself. He really didn’t need them to meddle and try and help him find out when he was honestly afraid of what they might do to try and help.

            When he finally looked at his watch and noticed the time he said goodbye to them all and promised he’d hang out with them whenever they wanted since they had the whole summer and he knew Sirius wouldn’t want him to stay home all the time. Hell, his godfather had practically pushed him out the door earlier that day when Ron, Hermione and Ginny showed up and asked if he wanted to hang out.

            He hadn’t really wanted to leave Sirius ever since he had almost been killed at the ministry by Bellatrix, and in fact that was really the only reason Sirius had given in and let him stay with him and Remus instead of making him go back to the Dursleys this summer. After the first couple of weeks though, it seemed Sirius was wanting him to get out and enjoy his summer as much as he could given the circumstances.

            So Harry had spent the day with his friends, getting so caught up he seemed to lose track of time, and now that it was getting rather late he knew Sirius would start getting worried that something had happened to him, which wasn’t all that unlikely considering Death Eaters were pretty much everywhere these days.

            He was jolted from his thoughts and froze when he suddenly heard something up ahead in the alley, and he quickly pulled out his wand and got it ready just in case. Number 12 Grimmauld Place was just a little ways up ahead so he knew all he’d have to do was send up a flare and Sirius or Remus would come running since he really didn’t want to end up leading someone back to the Order. Of course, at the same time, he really didn’t want either of his godfathers to get hurt either, especially after the scare he had just last month when Sirius was almost killed.

            He held his ground, expecting to see a Death Eater or even Voldemort himself, so obviously he was caught off guard when someone came stumbling out into the street and collapsed to the ground.

            He quickly ran over to help, the person struggling with him and trying to drag themselves away from him as soon as he touched them.

            “Whoa, calm down. It’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you,” Harry said softly, surprised when the stranger immediately seemed to relax.

            He decided to hurry and take this chance to help them up and led them to Grimmauld Place so he could see how bad the damage really was since it was too dark outside to see.

            As soon as they made their way inside and Harry looked to the stranger, he gasped. What he’d mistaken for dark hair outside was actually blood-stained locks, and he couldn’t help but notice the state of his clothes. His shirt was ripped to shreds, and his pants appeared to have the button ripped off and were unzipped and riding low on his hips. And when Harry took him over to the couch and laid him down his eyes widened in shock to find the bloody and beaten stranger he was helping was none other than Draco Malfoy.

            He hesitantly reached out and brushed some of the bloody locks from the other teen’s face, feeling his chest tighten as he noticed the hazy look in his eyes. “Malfoy? What happened to you?” he asked, mostly to himself since he really didn’t think the blonde could hear him at the moment.

            “Harry! Thank goodness you’re back. Sirius and I were getting worried…” Remus trailed off as he made his way into the living room and he noticed the bloody boy on the couch.

            “Lupin, please… Can you help him?” Harry asked worriedly. He and Malfoy may not have ever really been able to get along, but he wasn’t about to throw him back outside and leave him untreated for god only knows what to happen to him when there was something he could do to help him.

            Remus quickly made his way over, blinking in surprise once he was close enough to make out just who the boy was. “Is that who I think it is?” he asked curiously as he pulled out his wand, casting several healing spells as Harry nodded.

            “Will he be ok?”

            “Hard to say at the moment. We don’t really know the extent of his injuries. How did you find him?”

            “I was on the way back and he stumbled out of the alley just down the road. I didn’t even know it was him…”

            “Well it would seem we’ll have to wait until he wakes up to know if he’s really alright or not. Perhaps he will tell us what happened to him,” Remus said before he said a quick Scourgify.

            The man watched as Harry moved closer to the sleeping blonde and slowly ran his fingers through his soft locks in a soothing manner, and he arched a brow at this considering how much he’d heard Harry telling Sirius about Draco. Well, then again, he’d only ever said he wished things were different and they could all get along because he had a feeling most of what people saw of the little snake was fake and only what Draco wanted them to see just to keep up his family image; it was Ron and Hermione who really hated the boy.

            Honestly it made Remus wonder about Harry sometimes since it sometimes sounded as though his godson was in love with the Slytherin. It was mostly because Remus himself used to talk about someone at Hogwarts like that because he’d thought he was in love with them at the time, and as such he would always try to make excuses for why they were so cold and so cruel at times, so it made him wonder if Harry needed to talk to him and Sirius since he’d never mentioned anything before about possibly having a thing for boys.

            “Remus? Where did you go? You said you’d be right back,” Sirius said as he made his way downstairs, blinking in surprise to see his godson sitting in the floor next to the couch and running his fingers through someone’s hair.

            Harry blushed as he noticed Sirius’s mostly naked form, and he just now seemed to notice Lupin was looking rather disheveled and had his shirt unbuttoned and open to show his chest while his pants were missing altogether, and he was giving Sirius an apologetic look.

            “Thought you said you guys were getting worried about me,” Harry muttered as he looked down at Malfoy.

            Remus offered a sheepish smile at that. “We were, but I knew you could handle yourself after seeing the damage you kids did at the ministry. So I thought I’d distract Sirius so he wouldn’t worry himself for nothing.”

            Sirius scoffed. “I believe it was the other way around, Remus.”

            Harry smiled, knowing Lupin was most likely giving Sirius a look that said for him to shut up.

            “Now, who’s that and what’s he doing here? I don’t remember him being with your friends when they picked you up,” Sirius noted.

            “It’s Malfoy…” Harry said softly.

            “Malfoy?! You brought a Malfoy here?! I didn’t even think you liked him! You and your friends sure complain about him enough.”

            “He was hurt, so I brought him here since we were close and I thought I could help him.”

            “Hurt?”

            “I’ll fill you in upstairs, Sirius. Right now Harry needs to watch over Draco, and the boy needs to rest,” Remus told his lover sternly.

            “…Alright, but we should at least move him up to a bed,” he said with a sigh, arching a brow as Harry carefully picked the blonde up bridal-style.

            “I’ve got him,” Harry told them as he began making his way up to his room.

            Sirius gave his lover a look when he heard Remus chuckle. “Do you know something I don’t?” he asked curiously.

            Remus shook his head. “I just find it interesting that Harry would want to help someone he and his friends supposedly hate… Reminds me of me back in our school days.”

            “Are you implying what I think you are?”

            “That depends. I can’t say for sure since I really don’t know if Harry’s that way, but I do think he likes Draco more than he lets on.”

            “Don’t be ridiculous. Harry’s only ever talked about girls he likes, and he speaks just as badly of the kid as Ron and Hermione do.”

            “That’s not exactly true. Harry doesn’t talk as bad about Draco as his friends do. He seems to try and defend him and talks about him the same way I used to talk about Severus,” Remus pointed out.

            “…So you think he’s in love with the boy? Don’t you think he would’ve told us if he has a thing for guys? He obviously knows we wouldn’t mind.”

            “Maybe he’s not sure. Perhaps we’ll find out if he ends up confessing to Draco.”

            “Like you did with Severus? How did that go again? Oh, that’s right, he hexed you when he found out you had a crush on him. If anything I think that we should talk to him about it before something happens.”

            Remus shook his head. “We have no say in who he loves. People get rejected and their hearts broken all the time-it’s a part of growing up. All we can do is be here for him if that happens… Now,” Remus moved close to his lover and wrapped his arms around his neck, “I think we were in the middle of something before Harry got home and distracted me,” he said seductively as he pressed himself closer to the man, his earlier arousal returning.

            “Mmm, I think you’re right. I also think you went to get something from the kitchen to make things more interesting,” Sirius said as he slowly slid a hand down the werewolf’s chest.

            Remus shivered, his eyes darkening in lust. “It’s on the counter. I sat it down when I heard Harry come in… Didn’t think he wanted to know what we were doing.”

            “Then we’d better hurry and grab it and get back to our room,” Sirius whispered in his lover’s ear before he nipped it softly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

             Draco’s eyes slowly fluttered open, his brows furrowing in confusion when he couldn’t recognize the bed he was in or the wall he was currently staring at. He couldn’t exactly remember what had happened to him after he ran from the manor, though he did know that he should be in a lot of pain at the moment even though he felt nothing. It was because of this that he wondered for a moment if someone had found him and perhaps taken him to St. Mungos, but this was no room he had ever seen there before.

            He shifted a bit and instantly stiffened when he felt someone laying behind him, and he panicked a bit until he noticed the body snuggling up to his back was warm instead of cold, the arm wrapped around his waist strong and strangely comforting. He couldn’t help but wonder what exactly had happened to him the night before and what he may have said or promised the stranger in bed with him, but at the moment he decided it was better than being back at Malfoy manor with **him**.

            Draco let out a soft sigh as he allowed his eyes to slip closed once more, and he snuggled back against the warm body behind him. Tomorrow when he woke he would be worried about who it was who bothered to heal him and what he’d promised them in return while he was out of it, but for right now he was just going to sleep and be thankful for the comfort he was feeling.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry stretched for a moment before he pulled whatever he was holding close to him once more. His eyes slowly opened when he heard a soft noise coming from the object, and when his eyes finally focused and he noticed it was Malfoy he was cuddled up to he immediately jumped back.

            How had that even happened?! He hadn’t even slept in the bed last night because he wanted Malfoy to be comfortable and he didn’t want him to freak out if he happened to wake first and find him in bed with him. But he supposed if he had been sleepy enough he could’ve crawled into bed in the middle of the night without even thinking about it first.

            He blinked in surprise when Draco suddenly turned towards him and wrapped his arms around him and snuggled against his chest, and his eyes gentled as he watched the blonde’s sleeping face. He couldn’t help but smile at how peaceful he looked, unable to keep from wondering how many other people had ever been lucky enough to see him looking so content and relaxed.

            Before he realized it he was slowly running his fingers through Draco’s soft locks, blinking in shock as he heard a soft mewl coming from the sleeping teen. _“Damn... Who knew Draco could be so cute?”  
_

            Harry felt himself blushing at the thought. Honestly, since when did he start thinking of Draco as being cute? And when the hell did Malfoy suddenly become Draco?! Jesus, what was wrong with him? He didn’t like Malfoy-he didn’t. It just wasn’t possible with how the two were always at each other’s throats all the time. Sure, he had been telling Sirius and Lupin for a good while now that he wished things were different between him and the Slytherin, but was this really what he had meant whenever he found himself wishing he and Malfoy could put aside their differences and get along?

            While he was lost in thought he hadn’t seemed to notice that he had wrapped his arm around the blonde at some point and was still running his fingers through his hair, nor did he notice said blonde’s eyes slowly opening.

            Draco felt a bit disoriented once his eyes were open, though it didn’t take him long to realize he had arms around him and he was pressed up against a hard chest as fingers slowly ran through his hair. He couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh at the feeling, but he was afraid to look up at his healer and see just what exactly he ended up getting himself into this time.

            He nervously licked his lips before he slowly flicked his eyes up to the stranger’s face, his eyes widening when he saw who it was. “P-Potter?!” he said in shock as he quickly pulled away from the warm embrace, a light shade of red staining his cheeks at the realization that he’d been cuddled up to his enemy all night.

            Harry had been brought out of his thoughts by Malfoy’s sudden outburst, and he was unsure about what he should do now. He’d been caught holding the blonde and comforting him by said blonde himself, so what could he possibly say to Malfoy to keep him from killing him?

            Harry nervously licked his lips as Malfoy watched him curiously, the blush still on his face, and once again he couldn’t stop himself from thinking it was cute before he shook his head to clear the thought. “Dra-er, Malfoy, I can explain,” he started.

            “Explain what exactly?! What the hell I’m doing here, or why the fuck you were just all over me?!” Draco snapped, trying to cover his shock and embarrassment with anger.

            Harry flinched at the angry tone, and he nervously scratched the back of his neck. “Well…I was out with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione yesterday-”

            “The fucking weasels and that mudblood saw me too?!” Draco asked, utterly mortified at the thought they would all have something over him now.

            Harry shot Malfoy a glare, trying to keep calm even though it pissed him off to no end to hear the Slytherin call Hermione a mudblood. “No, Malfoy, it was just me. Anyways, as I was saying, I was on my way back home when I saw someone stumbling out of some alley and I helped them up and brought them back with me. It wasn’t until we got inside I saw it was you and saw the state you were in.”

            Draco frowned. “And you actually healed me up and let me stay even when you found out it was me?” he asked in disbelief.

            Harry arched a brow at that. “Why wouldn’t I? I mean, it really wasn’t me that healed you since I’m not all that great at healing charms, but I did get Lupin to heal you.”

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion. “What do you mean ‘why wouldn’t I’? Why would you after everything I’ve ever done or said to you. We’re not friends, and it’s not like you owed me anything, so why bother helping me when you realized it was me? And why in the hell would our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from third year be the one to heal me? What reason would you even have for keeping in contact with him?” he asked curiously.

            Harry smiled. “First off, I helped you because you needed it and I wasn’t going to throw you back outside and forget about it just because we can’t ever get along at school. And, as for Lupin, he lives here.”

            Draco’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You live with our third year teacher?”

            “Well, yeah, now anyways. He’s, uh… He’s my godfather’s boyfriend,” he said with a blush, not wanting to tell him that but knowing he’d find out soon enough since Sirius and Lupin weren’t exactly the type of couple to hide their relationship, and especially not in their own home.

            “This is actually the first year I’ve been able to stay here, and Sirius and I never really talked about the relationships he was in when we wrote letters to each other, so I was pretty surprised about it myself.”

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. Sirius, as in Sirius Black?! What the fuck, Potter?!”

            “He’s innocent! Geez, calm the hell down.”

            Draco tightly clenched the covers in his hands. “Whatever… I think the more important question I should be asking is why the hell I woke up with you all over me.”

            Harry blushed, unable to think of a believable excuse. “Uhm… I…I don’t really know actually,” he said, deciding to just tell the truth.

            The Slytherin arched a brow at that, but he decided to drop it since he really didn’t want to think about being wrapped up in Harry Potter’s arms.

            He slipped out of the bed and slowly got to his feet. “Right… Well, thanks for the help I guess…” he said before he headed towards the door, wanting to hurry and find his way out of the place so he could leave.

            Harry seemed to have a feeling this was what the blonde was wanting to do and quickly ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Draco, wait!”

            Draco froze upon hearing Potter use his name, and he turned to look at the brunette in surprise.

            Harry blinked as he noticed a bit of Draco’s sleeve had lifted up from where he grabbed it, and he noticed something black on the other teen’s skin. He lifted up the sleeve, his eyes widening as he noticed the Dark Mark on Draco’s arm before the blonde gasped and yanked his arm back and covered the mark, holding it close to his chest as he looked away.

            “You… You’re a-”

            “Don’t!” Draco cut him off, taking a deep breath and trying as hard as he could to keep back the tears burning his eyes. “Don’t say it… I’m not… I-I didn’t…” he trailed off, his voice  barely a whisper.

            “Draco?” Harry asked softly, his voice filled with concern.

            “…I should leave.”

            Harry caught his hand as he turned to leave once again. “No, don’t go… You don’t have to leave. Besides, I’d like to know what happened to you.”

            Draco gritted his teeth, glaring angrily as he yanked his hand away and roughly shoved Potter away from him upon being reminded of what all had caused him to end up the way he had the night before. “You’re what fucking happened!” he spat. “If it wasn’t for you, none of this would’ve happened!”

            Harry looked at the other teen in shock. “What on earth are you talking about?”

            Draco took a step back when he saw the brunette taking a step towards him. “It’s your fault…” he said before he turned and made his way downstairs only to be stopped as he ran into someone and fell backwards, blinking as he felt hands on him to help him up.

            “Draco, are you ok?” Harry asked with concern.

            The blonde jerked out of his grip. “I’m fine, Potter!” he growled.

            Remus arched a brow. “Good morning, Harry. Draco. I just finished breakfast and was actually coming up to see if you were awake.”

            “Morning, Lupin,” Harry said with a smile while Draco scowled.

            “No thanks. I’m out of here.”

            “Do you think that wise with the state Harry found you in last night?” Remus asked curiously. “What if whoever did that to you decides to come after you and finds you before you can get home?”

            The Slytherin froze with his hand on the doorknob, unable to stop his body from trembling. He couldn’t go back to the manor…and what if they were looking for him since he ran off? No one knew where Potter was, so wouldn’t it be safer if he stayed here? But…they wouldn’t let him stay longer than breakfast anyways, so why prolong the inevitable? Why not just leave now?

            Remus frowned as he watched the boy, and he made his way over to him and lightly touched his shoulder. He quickly jerked his hand away when Draco jumped, and he caught the look in the boy’s eyes for a moment before his mask was back in place. Draco was terrified, and the way he looked gave him a bad feeling.

            “Don’t touch me…”

            The wolf frowned. “I think you should stay here. If you need to, we’d be more than happy to keep you here. You just look like someone who doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

            Draco scoffed. “Please. Why wouldn’t I have anywhere to go? I’m a Malfoy for god’s sake! And even if I didn’t, what the hell makes you think I’d stay here with Potter?!” he said coldly.

            “Lie to me all you want-I don’t care. I’m just letting you know that our home is open to you if you wish to stay,” Remus told him before he turned and made his way into the kitchen.

            Harry hesitantly moved closer when he noticed the conflicted look on the blonde’s face. “You know it really is ok if you want to stay… I mean…I’ve honestly always wished things could’ve been different with us… It’s not too late to just start over.”

            Draco shot the other teen an icy glare. “My father is in Azkaban thanks to you!”

            Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from throwing back a smart remark at that. “It wasn’t my fault, it was his for making the decisions he did.”

            “My father was the only one who could’ve…” he trailed off, not wanting to get into **that**.

            Harry was curious about what Malfoy wasn’t wanting to tell him, but he’d known the Slytherin long enough to know that it was nearly impossible to find out something he didn’t want you to know.

            “…Look, I’m sorry about what happened to your dad, ok? Just… Let’s just forget about that right now and go get some breakfast, yeah?”

            Draco frowned as he thought about it carefully. If he accepted it was pretty much going to tell them that he was going to stay with them, but if he left the Death Eaters could find him and take him back to the manor… He was screwed either way it would seem, but Harry Potter was obviously the better choice at the moment.

            He let out a defeated sigh and shoved past the brunette and made his way into the kitchen and over to the table to sit down. He kept his eyes down since he didn’t want to look at anyone, finding it more than weird that he was in a house with Sirius Black… Of course, he had heard rumors flying around that Black was innocent, and if him seeing that hideous rat-like man by the Dark Lord’s side all the time was anything to go by then those rumors really were true.

            He felt eyes on him even as Potter made his way into the kitchen and took a seat next to him, and it made him want to scream for everyone to quit fucking staring at him but somehow he managed to refrain from doing so.


	2. Chapter 2

            Breakfast had been awkward at best, and though Potter showed Draco to a room right next to his own and left him be, it was still awkward for the blonde to be where he was. Out of all the places he could’ve ended up, it just had to be with Harry bleeding Potter didn’t it?

            He jumped, nearly pulling out his wand when he heard a loud crack beside of him, only to glare at the house elf that had suddenly appeared in his room.

            “Kreacher is sorry for bothering mister Malfoy, sir. Mr. Potter wished Kreacher to bring mister Malfoy his things, sir,” the elf told him with a sneer.

            Malfoy couldn’t help but arch a brow, unable to help but think his father would’ve preferred this elf over Dobby for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that he had the Malfoy sneer that not many could master.

            “You’d better watch yourself, elf,” Draco growled. “Us purebloods don’t take kindly to you vermin talking to us with such disrespect.”

            Kreacher’s eyes widened before he bowed suddenly. “Kreacher is sorry, sir! He did not know you wasn’t a filthy half-blood or blood-traitor. If master Malfoy needs anything, he need only call upon Kreacher, sir.”

            Draco was a little confused by the elf’s sudden change of behavior, but since it really didn’t matter he waved the elf away and went over to the trunks the elf had left. He wasn’t sure how the house elf had managed to get into his manor and get his clothes and things, but he was thankful for it-though he’d never admit that out loud.

            He rummaged through everything to see what all was there, and after he was satisfied he picked out some clothes and made his way to the bathroom in his room, glad that each room seemed to have its own bathroom, and stripped down. He turned on the water and was soon stepping into a piping hot shower, hissing in delight as the water stung against his skin.

            If he would’ve been able to stand it he would’ve turned the water even hotter just to try and erase the feeling he had on him, but he knew he’d never be able to get rid of this feeling… He’d tried a few times before, but he could never erase the disgusting feel of those hands sliding along his body, never erase the feeling of being held down and feeling as though he were being ripped apart…

            Draco glared down at the hideous dark mark marring his skin and he hated looking at it… He hated that damn mark and he’d never fucking wanted it… Now he was stuck with it because he had no idea how to get it off! He wouldn’t give up until he found a way though, and if he had to he’d even try cutting the damn thing off. He was no stranger to pain after all, so what was a little bit of pain to his arm compared to everything else he’d experienced in his life?

            Most would scoff and wonder what pain he had ever had to go through, but that was only because they didn’t know him-the real him. They only knew what he wanted them to, and so they saw what he wanted them to see. He was a Malfoy after all, and he had an image to uphold.

            It was alright now though… He was alone now, so he could let it all out…and so he did… He let out everything he’d been holding in recently while he finally had a moment to himself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry let out a soft sigh as he idly tapped his fingers against the table.

            “You’ve been doing that for quite some time now you know,” Sirius noted.

            Harry blushed a light shade of red at that. “Sorry…”

            “No need to apologize. I’m just curious as to what has you like this. Surely it’s not Draco.”

            “No… Well, maybe… I don’t know… I’m just really curious about what happened to him. I mean, he may be a stupid jerk, but he can cast and deflect spells as good as any of the three of us can. I just don’t get how anyone could’ve gotten the jump on him, especially since he had his wand on him. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

            I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me anything… It just makes me wonder if someone saw his mark and ganged up on him and jumped him when he was alone or something.”

            Remus and Sirius looked at each other before giving Harry a questioning look. “What mark?” they asked in unison.

            Harry froze, wanting to slap himself for that one. If he himself had almost started freaking out about it before he saw the look on Malfoy’s face, how would his godfathers react? “Uh… Well, he was about to leave so I sort of grabbed his arm and his shirt sleeve raised up a bit, and I noticed something on his arm, so I pulled it up to look and…I saw he has the Dark Mark…”

            “He what?!” they both asked, Sirius standing up and causing Harry to flinch.

            “He has the Dark Mark?”

            “You let a Death Eater in here?!” Sirius asked in shock.

            “No! I don’t think it’s what it seems! He looked upset about it,” Harry defended him.

            “Did it not occur to you that he could be playing you, Harry?” Sirius asked worriedly.

            Harry shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. How could that be when no one but my friends know where I am this summer? Besides that, he really was hurt. I mean, if he wasn’t, your healing charms wouldn’t have worked on him,” he said, looking to Lupin.

            Remus frowned, knowing the boy was right.

            “It’s still not a good idea to trust a Death Eater, Harry,” Sirius told him. “Where is he anyway?”

            “He’s not a Death Eater!” Harry said angrily as he got to his feet. “The way he looked and the way he sounded when I saw the mark tells me he’s not!” he said defensively.

            Remus’s eyes gentled and he nodded. “If you don’t think so then I’m willing to give him a chance.”

            Harry and Sirius looked at him in shock. “You are?!” they asked.

            The wolf nodded. “I am. You’ve been saying for a while now that you wished things could be different between you and Draco, so perhaps this is a chance for that to happen.”

            “Remus, you can’t be se-”

            The wolf cut his lover off. “Draco wasn’t faking his injuries, believe me I know… Just be careful, Harry.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Draco was feeling better by the time he’d finally gotten out of the shower, but he still didn’t want to talk to anyone or even see anyone so he decided to stay in his room. He was currently stretched out on his bed and just staring up at the ceiling when he heard a soft knock at the door. He was debating on whether or not he should tell whoever it was to go away and leave him the hell alone, but since he really didn’t want to risk being kicked out of the place so the Death Eaters could find him, he let out a sigh and said whoever it was could come in.

            The blonde looked to the door when it opened, and he glared slightly to see who it was. “What do you want, Potter?” he spat.

            Harry frowned as he made his way inside and over to the bed, sitting down on the edge of it. “I just thought maybe you’d be ready to talk about what happened to you.”

            Draco snorted. “You’re completely off your rocker if you think I’d ever talk to you, Potter!”

            “…What’s your problem with me?” Harry asked suddenly.

            “Excuse me?”

            “You heard me. I’ve never really done anything to you, but you’ve always been such an ass to me and my friends. So I want to know what your problem is.”

            Draco glared as he sat up. “It’s none of your damn business.”

            “It is since it’s about me.”

            Draco clenched his fists. He didn’t know what to say honestly because, really, he didn’t have a reason for always hating Potter like he did… He supposed when he was younger the fact that the boy had turned down his friendship and chosen someone less worthy to be his friend had pissed him off, and it had only made him that much more angry to see that Potter and his friends never got in trouble for anything they did.

            When Draco had been making fun of Neville in first year during flying lessons and he’d tossed the boy’s Remembrall, instead of getting in trouble for being caught on his broom when madam Hooch told them all to stay put on the ground, the bastard became Gryffindor’s fucking seeker! From there it seemed everything the damn golden boy and his stupid friends did was overlooked.

            The boy didn’t have to deal with everything like everyone else did! He had his life handed to him on a silver fucking platter! Potter never had to work for anything in his life! He never had to strive to be the best because he already was the best in everyone’s eyes! He was probably even showered in love, attention, and affection while growing up when Draco was always met with cold looks, disappointed stares, and even had curses placed upon him if he didn’t do something up to his parents’ standards.

            Lucius wasn’t as bad as Narcissa was, but sometimes Draco had wondered if either of his parents loved him at all. He bet Potter never had that problem… The wizarding world’s golden boy obviously had everything he wanted…though he found it odd that Potter was living with both Black and Lupin when he could’ve sworn Potter had only met Lupin in third year and had never even heard of Black until the man escaped from Azkaban.

            Harry impatiently waited for Malfoy to give him an answer, and when several moments went by without the other teen saying anything he let out a sigh. “You honestly can’t give me a reason, can you?”

            Draco blinked in surprise. “Of course I can! I don’t have to spell it out for you just because you’re too stupid to figure it out for yourself!”

            “…Look, if this is because of what happened to your dad then I’m sorry. I already told you that wasn’t my fault, Dra-Malfoy. I didn’t have anything to do with it because it was his own fault for what happened to him. That can’t be why you hate me so much though considering you’ve been this way ever since first year.”

            Draco glared at him but said nothing.

            “…I know there’s more to you than what everyone else sees. You really don’t have to pretend in front of me-I won’t tell anyone, and I doubt they’d believe me even if I did… Please, can’t we just start over?” Harry asked softly.

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion. “You hate me just as much as I hate you, Potter.”

            Harry let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t hate you, Draco…”

            Once again Draco stared at the brunette in shock upon hearing him call him by his name.

            “I just hate that you’re such a dick all the time,” Harry continued.

            The blonde glared once again. “If I’m such a dick then why the hell did you help me? Why are you even in here for that matter? I’m not going to tell you anything, so you should save yourself the trouble and just get out.”

            Harry glared. “Stubborn bastard…” he muttered in frustration. He really didn’t want to end up getting pissed off and fighting with the blonde, so he got to his feet and took a deep breath as he made his way out of the room. It obviously wasn’t going to be easy to get Draco to open up even though they weren’t at school, but if Malfoy stayed then at least they’d have all summer to work on that.

            Draco stared after the brunette in shock. Normally Potter wouldn’t stop until they were both screaming at each other and ready to throw hexes at each other, so what the hell just happened? Why wasn’t Potter still fighting with him?! He didn’t want him to be going soft on him, he wanted to piss him off and fight with him, dammit! Draco needed to get his anger and frustration out somehow, and at least here the two of them could go at it without having to worry about being expelled from school!

            He gritted his teeth as he took a deep breath to try to calm himself, and he ran his fingers through his hair in agitation. He just didn’t understand why the hell he wanted to run out and drag the boy back into the room just to start a fight with him. It was like he **needed** Potter to fight with him for things to not seem as bad as they really were…

            _“Since when did the fucking golden boy become an escape for you?!”_ he mentally screamed at himself.

            Was that really a bad thing though? Draco’s life had been hell ever since the Dark Lord returned in fourth year, and it only got worse after his father had gotten captured just the month before at the ministry… Without his father there to protect him anymore Narcissa pretty much threw him to the wolves!

            He could still hear her angry voice as she screamed at him and told him he had better be less of a disappointment to the Dark Lord than his father was. If he knew what was good for him then he wouldn’t screw things up… He’d be a good boy and do anything and everything that the Dark Lord required… After all, if they pissed him off or disappointed him any more than they already had, they could lose their status… Apparently that was all that mattered to Narcissa-their status, how useful they could be to Voldemort, and what high ranking position their family would be in after the Dark Lord won the war.

            If Draco had to do certain things that made him uncomfortable then so be it, right? All his life he had to do things he didn’t want to do…but **that**? How could his mother ask him to do such a thing without thinking anything of it? His own father hadn’t even been so heartless as to throw him to Voldemort! Lucius had been protecting him as long as he was there! His father was able to keep Voldemort away from him by being useful to him… Without Lucius there it was Draco who had to be useful to the Dark Lord, and he didn’t have nearly as much pull with people as Lucius did…so what way was he useful to the loathsome man?

            The blonde felt bile rising in his throat and he had to shake his head to clear these horrid thoughts. He didn’t want to think of his mother or father, and he most certainly didn’t want to think of that bastard! Having the Dark Mark on him was enough, and gods how he wished that was the only way he was marked that day…

            He felt tears burning in his eyes again and he tried as hard as he could to blink them back. He may have been alone but he wasn’t in the shower to silence his sobs this time, and something told him if he cast a Silencio Potter and his godfathers would break the door down to see what the hell he was up to in there…

            _“Stop thinking about all that shit! You’re away from there, you don’t have to deal with it anymore, so just stop thinking about it! You can’t change the past, you can’t change what happened, so just stop thinking about it already!”_ he told himself repeatedly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            “Troubles with the little snake already I take it?” Sirius asked as Harry stormed downstairs and plopped onto the couch between him and Remus.

            Harry let out an aggravated sigh as he leaned against Sirius and frowned in thought. “He just pisses me off is all…”

            Sirius snorted. “I can see that, which is honestly why I don’t get why you don’t just kick him out the door on his merry way now that he’s all healed up.”

            Remus gave his lover a glare just to reach over Harry and slap the man’s arm. “He’s just a boy, Sirius. Whoever hurt him obviously didn’t seem to care too much that they almost killed him. What if whoever did that to him is still out there somewhere?”

            Sirius shrugged. “So there’d be one less Malfoy to worry about that way, not to mention one less Death Eater.”

            Harry glared up at his godfather. “He’s not a Death Eater!” he growled.

            “Oh don’t be so foolish, Harry. You said yourself that he has the mark! He could call Voldemort here at any time with that mark!”

            “Then why hasn’t he? If that was what he was planning to do, why hasn’t he done it yet? It’d be easy for Voldemort to come and kill me if Draco were to call for him, and I would think he would know that, so why is Voldemort not here right now?”

            “Would you both stop it already?” Remus asked with a sigh. “You’re giving me a headache. I already told you to give Draco a chance, Sirius, and I meant it. He’s just a boy, and he hasn’t done anything an actual Death Eater would do.”

            “Yet,” Sirius reminded him. “Who’s to say he won’t as soon as he’s out of sight?”

            “And who’s to say he will?” Remus shot back.

            Sirius grumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms and he looked away in aggravation.

            “Now, Harry, what is it that’s got you so riled up at the moment, other than your idiotic godfather that is,” Remus asked curiously.

            Harry smiled as he heard Sirius let out small growl, and he shook his head. “…It’s just that I tried to offer Draco a truce and he completely shot me down. He acted as if it was the stupidest thing he’s ever heard… I mean, I guess he doesn’t care, but I for one am sick and tired of fighting him all the damn time.

            I just don’t know what to do… I mean, we’re not at school right now, and no one else is here to see it, so why does he act like it would kill him to at least be civil with me?”

            “Probably would kill the little snake,” Sirius smirked. “If the Malfoys were ever civil to anyone other than another ritzy pureblood they’d probably burst into flames or something.”

            Remus rolled his eyes and ignored the man. “I’m sure it wasn’t exactly something he expected his enemy to say to him. Rivals don’t normally offer a truce with each other you know, and you also seem to be forgetting that this is Draco Malfoy you’re talking about. If you don’t think even one person knows the real him at school, why in the world would you think it would be that easy for him to open up to you? If the other Slytherins don’t even know the real him, why would he allow someone he hates to get to know him?”

            Harry frowned in thought, hating that the man was right. Seriously, he loved Lupin to death, but sometimes he really wished his godfather wouldn’t be such a know-it-all all the time.

            “What’s he up to at the moment? He’s been a bit quiet since breakfast, and sorry to piss anyone off but I don’t trust him being left alone,” Sirius said suddenly.

            “He was just sitting on the bed last I saw him… He looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower when I went up there, and he looked like he was just thinking was all.”

            “Thinking, or plotting? That’s what you should really be asking yourself.”

            “Sirius!” Remus warned, giving the man a stern look.

            “What?! Why am I the only one concerned here?!”

            Harry let out a sigh and shook his head as he got to his feet. He really didn’t want to deal with this anymore. He’d come downstairs because he thought his godfathers would do what they normally did-make him feel better when he was upset about something-but instead they were just upsetting him more.

            Since he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at either one of them he simply headed back upstairs to his room. He didn’t need to hear Lupin and Sirius bickering and arguing back and forth and Lupin telling Sirius he was being thickheaded and stubborn while Sirius told Lupin he was being too naïve and trusting.

            _“It’ll get better, Harry, so just keep your head up. Draco’s probably still worn out and even less trusting after whatever happened to him. Sirius will come around soon and stop being so…judging about everything,”_ he told himself, hoping he was right.


	3. Chapter 3

            Remus couldn’t take it anymore. Sirius was driving him insane with his theories about Draco, and he just knew that if Harry could hear him right now it would just make him that much more upset. Sure, his lover had felt bad about Harry running off earlier, but that hadn’t stopped Sirius from trying to convince Remus that it would be better for them to just hurry and get Draco out of the house as soon as possible.

            Since he really didn’t want to risk Harry getting any more upset than he already was he warned Sirius to behave himself during dinner and to not say anything to Harry about Draco to try and convince him the boy needed to leave.

            Of course, when dinner finally did roll around, he noticed the only one to come down was Harry, so he shot his lover a glare before the man could say anything about Draco being up to something.

            He decided to make his way upstairs to get the boy himself since Harry seemed a bit worn out at the moment, and there was no way in hell he was going to let Sirius go up there and start something with the little Slytherin.

            Remus lightly knocked on the door just to hear a muffled voice telling him to go away, but he merely knocked again instead.

            Draco let out an aggravated sigh as he snuggled down into the bed more and pulled the covers tighter around himself, and he tried to ignore the incessant knocking. “Jesus, Potter, just go away already!” he finally growled, unable to take the annoying banging any longer.

            Remus chuckled softly as he opened the door and stepped inside, arching a brow to find Draco in bed so early. He offered a smile when he saw the boy sit up and reach for something he looked as though he were about to throw, and he laughed when he saw a small blush on the boy’s face.

            “Oh… Uh…what do you want?” the boy muttered nervously.

            “I just thought I’d let you know dinner’s ready. Sirius sent Kreacher up here to let you know it was done, but sometimes I honestly wonder if that elf ever listens to anyone in this house.”

            “He told me about dinner. I told him I wasn’t hungry and I sent him away,” the boy explained.

            Remus frowned. “You barely ate anything at breakfast this morning… You sure you aren’t hungry?”

            “I’m fine.”

            “If you don’t want to come down I could just send Kreacher up with something,” he offered.

            Draco glared up at the man. “I said I’m fine! I’m not hungry so just go away!”

            The wolf arched a brow at that. “You know, normally a guest doesn’t talk to their hosts like that.”

            “I never asked to stay here!” the boy snapped.

            “You haven’t left either,” Remus reminded him. “I’m not saying you have to leave, but I would think you would be more polite to someone who is letting you stay in their home lest they become inclined to throw you out.”

            Draco looked down as he tightly clenched the covers. “…Right, well, I’m not hungry.”

            The werewolf nodded slowly. “Alright… I’ll make sure Sirius saves enough for you in case you get hungry later.”

            The boy furrowed his brows in confusion. “Why? I could just get the elf to fix something up.”

            “Kreacher isn’t allowed to cook for anyone other than himself anymore. Sirius doesn’t trust him with how he is, so Harry and I do most of the cooking around here.”

            Remus offered a soft smile at the boy’s shocked look. “Surprised to know we can actually get by without relying on house elves?”

            “I just don’t know anyone in their right mind who would rather do their own cooking when they could simply order an elf to do it for them… And if Black doesn’t trust the elf then why does he keep it around?”

            Remus shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. Sometimes I think he enjoys torturing himself, either that or just having something around to take his frustrations out on. He’s gotten better about that ever since Hermione’s been around and nagging him about elf rights though.”

            The blonde rolled his eyes. “Of course the stupid little mudblood would be going on about rights for house elves, why wouldn’t she be.”

            Remus felt himself twitch at the use of the term. “…That was uncalled for, don’t you think?”

            Draco blinked, furrowing his brows in confusion. “What?”

            “Calling Hermione such a name… What has she ever done to you to deserve having you call her such a thing?”

            The boy snorted. “Does she have to do something? It’s what she is.”

            “You know there’s really no difference between a pureblood and a muggle-born like Hermione. If I remember correctly, she was the brightest witch at Hogwarts while I was teaching there. Next to Harry, she was the best in my defense class.”

            Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Oh please. Potter was only the best in your class because you obviously favor him, and with Granger it was only because she was his friend. Bet the little weasel had high marks in there too.”

            Lupin chuckled softly. “He did alright… I heard he improved after this last year since Harry was teaching the students how to defend themselves. He could probably teach you a thing or two if you’d give him the chance.”

            “Like I’d ever take lessons for anything from Potter!”

            “If you would’ve taken his defense class last year the chances are he never would’ve found you in the state you were in last night.”

            Draco gritted his teeth and looked away from the man, wanting to scream at him to just get the hell out but knowing he couldn’t do that unless he wanted to be thrown out of there.

            “…That reminds me… How exactly **did** you end up in the shape you were in?” Remus asked curiously.

            “I don’t think that’s any of your damn business!” Draco snapped.

            “Maybe not, but I am curious as to what happened exactly to cause you so many injuries… Not only that, Mr. Malfoy, but I want to make sure my family is safe. If you tell me I can assure you that I won’t say anything to Sirius or Harry,” he promised.

            He made his way over to the bed and gently grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled it close, tightening his grip a bit when the boy tried to jerk his arm away. He turned the arm over and lifted up his sleeve to see the mark clearly on the blonde’s arm. He noticed Draco trembling a bit, the boy able to keep his composure rather well. “Did it happen to you because of this? Did someone see this?” Remus asked softly.

            Draco wasn’t sure what to do or what to say. By asking and making his own assumptions rather than having Draco tell him he was giving him an easy way to lie so he wouldn’t have to come up with anything himself. He could just go with whatever the man was saying…but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

            The wolf’s eyes gentled. “You didn’t want this, did you? You didn’t want to be like your father or the rest of your family…”

            “I… Just get out… You said you came up here just to let me know dinner was ready, and I already told you that I’m **not** hungry…” Draco told him as he roughly jerked his arm out of the man’s grip, trying as hard as he could to keep from letting this whole thing shake him up.

            Remus felt for the boy, he really did. He knew that not everyone who was a Death Eater was always one by choice, and he could tell by the look on the boy’s face that this mark definitely wasn’t his choice.

            He decided to leave Draco alone since it was clear to him that he wasn’t ready to talk about whatever happened to him, and he could understand that. So he got to his feet and made his way out of the room, silently closing the door behind him as he did so. He let out a sad sigh just to frown as he noticed Sirius leaning against the wall by the door. “How long have you been there?”

            “Long enough… I didn’t think it took so long to let someone know dinner was ready, so I thought I should come and see what the little snake was up to.”

            “Sirius-”

            Sirius raised a hand to silence him. “You don’t have to say it, Moony, I already know…  I could hear it in his voice.”

            Remus gave a soft smile as he leaned into the man, his arms moving to wrap around his lover’s neck. “Glad to see you finally came around then, Padfoot. Now, why don’t we hurry and get back downstairs? I’m sure Harry’s wondering what’s going on if both of us disappeared after coming up here.”

            Sirius shrugged. “It would give him a reason to be suspicious of that little snake in there.”

            Remus gave his lover a look just to pull away from him.

            “What? So he’s not doing this by choice, I get it, but that doesn’t mean that we should all let our guard down and trust him completely.”

            The wolf let out a defeated sigh. “Oh whatever… Let’s just hurry and get back to Harry before you end up saying something that makes me want to strangle you all over again.”

            Sirius grinned. “Oh, come on, you wouldn’t do that. You love me too much and you know it.”

            Remus smiled as he rolled his eyes, but he said nothing.

            “…Right?” Sirius prompted as he followed after the other man, frowning since his lover wouldn’t answer him. “Seriously, you do right?”

            Remus wanted to laugh but he decided to just let the man squirm for a bit, so he held it in and offered Harry a reassuring smile once they were back in the dining room with him.

            Harry arched a brow as he noticed Sirius pouting, but he decided he probably didn’t want to know what that was about. “Where’s Draco?” he asked curiously.

            “He said he wasn’t hungry at the moment,” Remus told him.

            Harry frowned. “…How could he not be hungry? He barely ate anything at breakfast today, and he didn’t come down for lunch at all…”

            “Maybe the snake just doesn’t have that much of an appetite,” Sirius offered.

            Harry shook his head. “That’s not true, he eats just fine at school.”

            Sirius snorted. “How would you know that?”

            Harry felt his cheeks heat up a bit, trying to think of what it was exactly that made him watch the Slytherin table, or rather Draco Malfoy. “…Well, with how often he insults me and my friends, I tend to look over at the Slytherin table every now and then when they catch our attention. Anyways, he always seems like he has a regular appetite to me.”

            Sirius smirked as he looked to his boyfriend. “That sounds familiar now doesn’t it, Moony?”

            Remus felt his cheeks heating up a bit as he thought of all the times he’d glanced over at the Slytherin table when he was in school just to catch a glimpse of Severus before he ever confessed his feelings to the snake. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

            Harry furrowed his brows in confusion when Sirius started chuckling.

            “Oh sure you don’t. You only ever kept your eyes glued on the Slytherin table when we were in school. Why was that again? Oh yeah, that’s right, it was because you were trying to get a glimpse of your dark-haired prin-ow!” Sirius cut off and glared at his lover as he rubbed at his ribs, already feeling a bruise forming there.

            Harry arched a brow, now just as curious as he was confused. “You were trying to do what?” he asked, hoping Lupin would give in and just tell him.

            Remus shot a glare at Sirius before he offered Harry a soft smile. “Nothing. Why don’t you hurry and finish eating before it gets cold.”

            Harry shrugged. “I could always just warm it up if it gets cold,” he reminded him. “So what’s that you were saying, Sirius?”

            When he saw Sirius open his mouth, Remus gave his lover a warning look that screamed he would be sleeping on the couch for a month if he said anything.

            “Er…never mind…” Sirius said suddenly.

            Remus smiled to see his lover was learning, just to chuckle as he saw Harry frown in disappointment. “It’s really nothing, Harry,” he assured him.

            The boy let out a sigh. “Whatever… Anyways, I guess I’m done,” he told them just to take his plate into the kitchen to empty it and clean it, still too used to having to do it for the Dursleys to let Kreacher take care of it.

            Now that Harry was out of the dining room Sirius looked over to his lover. “Any particular reason why you decided to try and break my ribs? Harry already knows you’re gay, so I doubt it would scar him too much to know you had a crush on Severus…though I have to admit that is still pretty damn weird.”

            The wolf rolled his eyes. “If Harry hasn’t noticed what he’s been doing, why on earth should we be pointing it out? After all, he hasn’t exactly admitted to us that he’s got a thing for boys yet.”

            “There’s nothing wrong with getting him to notice that he’s obviously been looking at the Slytherin for a reason.”

            “Or maybe he’s just not ready to admit to us that he was watching Draco for a reason other than the fact that he and his friends get picked on by the boy. Surely you noticed he was blushing when he seemed to realize he just admitted to us that he’s been watching Draco enough at school to know his eating habits.”

            “What? He can’t watch a snake for reasons other than having a thing for him?” Sirius argued.

            “If he was watching Draco any other time than when he was eating maybe. It’s easiest to look at someone during lunch since there’s so many people crowded together in one place it’s not noticeable as to who you’re looking at.”

            “…I suppose… You don’t seriously think he has a thing for that kid though, do you? I mean, I obviously wouldn’t care about his sexual preference or anything, but I can’t help but worry about him having a thing for a little snake.”

            “Oh come on, Sirius. Draco doesn’t seem like he’s that bad of a kid. Sure, he is rather rude and he seems like he’s a little cold, but the longer he stays here the more there’s a chance that he’ll drop that little façade of his… Something just tells me he’s not as bad as he seems.”

            The animagus frowned. “You’re kidding, right? After all of the things we’ve heard about him from Harry, Ron, **and** Hermione, you seriously think he’s not as bad as he seems?”

            “What? You weren’t as bad as you seemed at first either you know…and neither was James.”

            Sirius blinked. “And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?!”

            Remus grinned. “Oh nothing, just that when I first met you and James I thought you two were the biggest jerks in all of Gryffindor to the point that you both should’ve been sorted into Slytherin,” he said simply.

            Sirius’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What?!”

            The wolf shrugged. “Well, you two didn’t exactly give off the best first impressions you know. I mean, you were part of the infamous Black family, and James was just a punk no matter how you look at it. You two were positively horrid to me and Peter for weeks before you finally pushed me over the edge when you made Peter cry. After that I’m still not sure how on earth that caused all of us to become friends, but I know that after I got to know you both you weren’t as bad as you seemed.”

            Sirius frowned and crossed his arms over his chest just to look away. “Yeah, well, if I would’ve known what a rat Wormtail actually turned out to be then I would’ve been even worse to him than what I was,” he grumbled angrily, still hating whenever that bastard’s name was brought up.

            Remus smiled sadly. “And had I known what the future would hold I would’ve gladly let you and James torture him as much as you wanted in school…” He let out a sigh as he got to his feet and stretched. “Now, enough with that, why not get our minds off of everything and just head upstairs and take a hot bath and relax a bit?” he asked with a sly smile. “After all, I’ll have to be locked up in the basement in just a few nights,” he reminded him.

            Sirius frowned at the reminder of the upcoming full moon and he got up to follow after his lover. Once he caught up to him upstairs in their bathroom he moved up behind his wolf and slowly started to strip him of his clothing. “You know I’m not going to leave you alone that night just because Harry is here now… I never left you all alone during the full moon after I found out about your condition in school, and I haven’t left you alone since I’ve been out of Azkaban, so I’m not about to start now,” he whispered softly just to place soothing kisses along the man’s neck.

            The wolf smiled as he turned in his lover’s arms and brought his hands up to slowly strip him just as Sirius did to him, sighing as he opened his neck up more for the man. “I know…but even with my potion someone needs to make sure Harry and Draco stay away from the basement that night…”

            “And I’ll let Harry know they need to keep away from there. You know he won’t go down there if I tell him it’s because of your condition, and he definitely won’t let Draco down there. You don’t have to worry about hurting anyone, love,” Sirius told him as he slowly ran his hands down his lover’s chest and over the scars left by the werewolf that turned him.

            Remus’s eyes gentled at his lover’s words and he brought his arms up to wrap around the man’s neck just to pull him into a passionate kiss, praying Sirius was right and that he wouldn’t hurt anyone even though there would be two people there other than him and Sirius-who would be in his animal form that night so he wouldn’t risk being hurt by the wolf.


	4. Chapter 4

            Harry was starting to get a bit worried as the days went on. Lupin was starting to look rough around the edges with the upcoming full moon approaching, and Draco was being just as much of an ass as he always was. Since Sirius had reminded him about the upcoming full moon and that he needed to stay away from the basement around that time, it just stressed Harry out that much more since his plan at the start of summer had been that he would go and stay with the Weasleys during the full moons so that he wouldn’t be making things harder on Lupin, but of course things never tended to go as planned for him.

            It also didn’t help that since Draco was trying his best to ignore him or insult him every chance he got, Harry hadn’t been able to warn him about Lupin’s condition and that he should stay away from the basement when Lupin transformed even though the man was going to be chained up with silver down there.

            The boy let out a sigh as he made his way down to breakfast on the day of the full moon, and he frowned as he saw how pale Lupin was looking already. When they were in school they never normally saw Lupin the day of the full moon or the next day since he was still feeling under the weather from his transformation, so it broke his heart to see the man looking so worn down.

            “…Morning, Lupin,” he said softly, Sirius having told him that he shouldn’t talk too loudly around the man during the day of the full moon since all of his senses were heightened to that of the werewolf in him.

            Remus offered a small, tired, smile as he turned to look at his godson. “Good morning, Harry.”

            “Where’s Sirius?”

            “He’s making my potion for me,” Remus said with a grimace, already shivering at the thought of having to drink that disgusting Wolfsbane potion.

            Harry frowned. “Do you need me to help with breakfast? You don’t look like you’re feeling too well.”

            Remus let out a soft sigh. “I’m fine, Harry… Days like today are just never the best for me,” he reminded him as he cooked, canting his head to the side a bit when he heard footsteps. “Good morning, Draco. I must say I’m surprised to know you’re up and down for breakfast without someone having to come up and get you for once,” he said idly.

            Draco blinked as he stopped in the kitchen doorway and he eyed the man suspiciously. “…How the hell did you know it was me?”

            “The sound of your footsteps. You’re the only one who has feather-light steps, that and your scent; you have quite the unique smell about you,” he admitted.

            Draco shivered at those words and he glared at the man in disgust. “How the hell would you know what I smell like?!” he snapped, furrowing his brows in confusion when he noticed the man flinch and bring a hand up to his ear while Harry worriedly placed a hand on Lupin’s back.

            Harry glared over at the blonde. “Keep your voice down, will you?” he said softly.

            Draco returned the boy’s glare. “My voice isn’t any louder than usual, idiot,” he growled.

            Remus shook his head and let out a tired sigh, really not in the condition to deal with the two’s bickering at the moment, though he smiled as he heard his lover’s footsteps approaching and smelled his familiar scent.

            Sirius arched a brow as he noticed Draco and Harry having some kind of glaring match in the kitchen, and he slipped past them to make his way over to his lover and he wrapped his arms around the man’s waist to pull him close and place a soft kiss to his cheek. “Good morning. How’s my little Moony feeling today?” he softly asked with concern.

            Remus let out a content sigh as he leaned back against the man, his eyes flicking over to Draco when he heard him make a disgusted noise. “I’m alright for the moment. Is the potion ready?”

            Draco arched a brow as Sirius nodded, and he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell they were talking about. Of course, it was now that he finally took notice to how pale Lupin was looking, so he assumed the potion was one to help him feel better.

            He decided to just ignore them all as he made his way through the kitchen and into the dining room to take a seat at the table and take a peek out of the window, having learned that the whole building was enchanted so that you could look out but no one else could look in since it didn’t even appear that there was a building here.

            Things were slowly getting better the longer Draco was away from the mansion, but he still couldn’t help but worry about what might happen whenever he finally had to leave this place. He knew that Hogwarts was safe, yes, but it wouldn’t be safe on his way to the train station. He was just glad that he still had quite a while before he really had to worry about that, but he just couldn’t help but worry all the same, especially since most of the Slytherins would bear Voldemort’s mark. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that they would surely punish him for running away from the Dark Lord.

            The boy was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard the others come into the dining room, so he jumped a bit when a plate was suddenly being sat down in front of him by the house elf that was always so eager to please him.

            “Kreacher is sorry for scaring you, sir. Does master Malfoy wish Kreacher to punish himself, sir?” the elf asked as he bowed to him.

            Draco let out a sigh and shook his head just to wave a hand in dismissal before he picked up a fork and nudged at the food on his plate.

            “I’d check your food if I were you. That damn elf might have poisoned it if he was that eager to give it to you himself,” Sirius warned as he took a seat at the table.

            Draco ignored him since he knew for a fact the elf was trying to please him because he wasn’t a mudblood, half-blood, or blood-traitor. He looked up when he heard footsteps next to him, and he glared as he noticed Potter take a seat next to him. Honestly he didn’t know what the hell the Gryffindor was up to, but he was getting quite annoyed with how he was acting around him. It was driving him mad that he would no longer fight with him to the point of things actually getting to them throwing hexes at each other, not to mention he was still suspicious of this whole truce the other teen supposedly wanted to call.

            He blinked as he looked past Potter and he noticed that Lupin had something on his plate that appeared to be…raw and bloody. He frowned as this made him think of some rumor he heard at the end of third year when the teacher resigned, but he couldn’t remember what exactly it was since he hadn’t thought Dumbledore had been crazy enough to let someone like that teach at the school.

            Remus looked up when he felt eyes on him and he caught Draco staring, and he grimaced as he looked down. He really hated when someone stared at him just because of what he had to eat on the day of the full moon… He had been glad to note that Harry wasn’t staring at him at least, so that was a plus, but he didn’t exactly feel comfortable eating with Draco staring at him in disgust.

            Harry and Sirius both noticed that Remus stopped eating and they looked to see Draco staring at the man. Sirius glared at him while Harry reached over and lightly punched the Slytherin in the arm to get him to stop staring.

            Draco snapped out of it and turned to glare daggers at Potter, though he was a bit caught off guard by his pleading look. He furrowed his brows in confusion and glanced back over to Lupin and Black just to see Black whispering something to Lupin while Lupin nodded and took a bite of whatever the hell it was he had on his plate.

            The Slytherin decided he really didn’t want to know so he turned his head to look out the window again as the other three started up a conversation with each other. He didn’t bother to pay any attention since he didn’t exactly like any of the people he was stuck with, and he doubted he’d have anything to talk about with them anyways.

            Harry looked over to Draco when he noticed he was still being rather quiet, and he frowned to see that it didn’t look like he had even touched his food yet. He reached over and lightly nudged his arm with the back of his hand, and he couldn’t help but arch a brow when he noticed Draco tense up slightly. “Hey, are you ok? You still haven’t been eating much,” he said softly.

            Draco glared out the window. “What’s it matter to you?”

            Harry let out a sigh, not really wanting to deal with Draco’s stubbornness today of all days, so he just shook his head. “Never mind then…” he muttered just to quickly finish up his breakfast.

            Draco gritted his teeth as, once again, Potter refused to start a fight. He was honestly getting sick of this! He **needed** a fight, dammit! He was seriously getting to the point that he was ready to just find Kreacher and take all of his frustrations out on him!

            He finally started to take a few hesitant bites of his food when he heard the sound of a door opening and he soon heard footsteps in the hallway.

            “Harry? You here, mate? Me and Hermione came to see if you’re ready to go! We know it’s early but we thought you’d like to go and hang out somewhere!” Ron called out.

            “We’re in the dining room, Ronald,” Remus told him as he grimaced, his ears still ringing from the boy’s shout. “And would you please be so kind as to lower your voice?”

            Draco groaned at the sound of the weasel’s voice, and knowing that the damn mudblood was with him just made it that much worse. He looked over to the doorway where he heard an apology dying on the redhead’s lips, and he noticed Granger and Weasley staring at him in shock.

            “What the hell is he doing here?!” Ron shouted in shock, wincing when Hermione slapped him and Sirius shot him a glare while Lupin let out a whimper. “Er, sorry…again,” he said softly.

            Remus took a deep breath just to get to his feet and shakily make his way out of the room, Sirius worriedly following after him. If he didn’t know it would hurt his lover’s overly sensitive ears at the moment he’d shout at Ron for being an idiot and shouting when he knew what today was!

            Hermione stared at Malfoy intently, arching a brow as she noticed him fidgeting with one of the sleeves of his shirt and pulling it down even though it was already all the way down.

            Since Draco didn’t think it would be good to get himself in a three-on-one fight, he got to his feet and quickly made his way out of the room, shoving past Weasley as he did so.

            Ron’s eye twitched as he stared after the snake, and oh was he tempted to drag the bastard back down there and teach him a lesson! “Seriously, what the hell is he doing here?!” he growled.

            “I trust Dumbledore and all, but isn’t it risky to have someone like him in the Order, not to mention around you?” Hermione asked curiously.

            Harry let out a sigh. “Dumbledore didn’t bring him here.”

            “What?! Then why’s he here?!” Ron snapped.

            Hermione gave him a stern look. “Please, Ron. There’s no need to shout-think of Lupin,” she reminded him.

            Harry thought about telling his friends why the blonde was there, but he realized Draco probably wouldn’t want people to know he’d gotten himself beaten half to death and that he saved him. Sure, he should’ve told them because they were his friends, but he knew Ron would never let the boy live it down and he really didn’t want to make Draco even more uncomfortable around there than he already was. Hell, it’d probably give him that much more of a reason to hate him.

            “I…uh… Well, I’m sorry you came all this way, but I can’t come and stay over at your place with Draco here,” Harry told him.

            Ron’s mouth dropped open in shock while Hermione looked at him in surprise. “Since when did Malfoy become Draco?!” he asked, utterly dumbfounded.

            Harry nervously scratched the back of his neck.

            “…Ok… So Malfoy’s here, but why can’t you come with us? You know what tonight is. It’s not safe for you to be around when Lupin transforms,” Hermione reminded him.

            “I trust Lupin, and besides that we can’t leave. There’s no way he’d want to go to Ron’s house, and there’s no way Ron and his family would want him there anyways,” Harry pointed out, thinking that was a reasonable enough reason for him and Draco to have to stay.

            Ron rolled his eyes. “So let him stay here and you come with us!”

            Harry frowned. “I can’t do that. I mean, you can’t honestly expect me to leave him here alone with Sirius and Lupin.”

            “Why not? If Lupin happens to get loose and decides to use Malfoy as a chew toy, what’s it matter? We wouldn’t have to worry about the little git anymore then now would we?”

            “Ron,” Harry said sternly, giving him a look. “I’m not going to leave him here alone in case something were to happen.”

            “…Why is he here, Harry? You know you can tell us. We’re your best friends,” Hermione reminded him.

            Harry shook his head. “I can’t tell you, ok? I just don’t think Draco would be too happy if I told you guys what happened.” He held up a hand to keep Ron from saying anything when he saw the redhead open his mouth. “I just want to make him comfortable while he’s here, and I want him to trust me so we can finally call a truce like I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time now,” he admitted. “It’s just kind of hard to do when he won’t really talk to me unless he’s throwing an insult my way or something…”

            “Well duh, that’s how the little git is!” Ron reminded him.

            Harry shook his head. “I don’t really think so… I’ve honestly been wondering about that… I just wish he could stop acting like a dick now that we’re not in school. I mean, he doesn’t have anyone to pretend for or try and impress.”

            “Aw come on, mate. Can’t you at least come with us to hang out a bit?” Ron asked sadly. “You can have your crazy, ‘Malfoy’s not really a giant arse’ moment later!”

            Harry rolled his eyes. “I’ll come with you guys,” he held up a hand when Ron grinned, “but only if he comes with us. And you have to be nice,” he warned.

            Ron groaned. “Are you kidding me?! What the hell has the damn ponce done to you?! If I didn’t think you were out of your head before, now I know you are! You would never talk good about that bastard before, let alone ask for him to hang out with us!”

            Hermione pursed her lips at the thought of having Draco Malfoy around them. He wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t call her a mudblood all the damn time, but as it was the bastard couldn’t be civil with her for even five minutes for some reason. “I don’t really like the thought of that, Harry…but if he could at least try to not be a complete and utter dick then I can deal with it.”

            “What?! You’re joking, right?” Ron asked in shock.

            Harry blinked in surprise, honestly stunned to hear that Hermione would actually be ok with it. Ok, so he’d hoped that would get them to just leave him alone and leave without him, but he doubted he’d have much luck here with Draco by himself, so maybe it would be good if they went out to relax. Besides, if anyone tried to hurt him again, Harry would be there to make sure nothing happened to him.

            “…Cool. I’ll go up and see if he’ll come then,” he told them, ignoring Ron’s protests as he made his way past his friends and quickly headed upstairs to Draco’s room.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Draco looked up when he heard footsteps outside of his door, and he frowned as he soon heard a knock. If the mudblood and the weasel were still out there, there was no way he was coming out of the room.

            He glared darkly when the door was opened without his permission, and he crossed his arms and let out an aggravated sigh as he looked away. “What do you want now, Potter?” he growled.

            Harry offered a small smile. “Sorry to intrude, I just wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go out.”

            He arched a brow when he noticed the shocked look on Draco’s face and he felt his cheeks heat up as he realized what he’d just said. “No, wait, I meant hang out!” he corrected himself quickly, his cheeks still on fire. “Er, so would you like to go hang out somewhere?”

            Draco pursed his lips as he turned to look at the boy. “…Why would you think I’d ever agree to hang out with you?”

            Harry frowned. “Well, it’s just that you’ve already been here for a few days now, and something tells me you have to be more than ready to get out of here for a while.”

            “Even if that were true, why would I want to go anywhere with **you**?”

            Harry let out a sad sigh as he slowly made his way over and took a seat on the bed next to Draco, not failing to notice the way the boy tensed up. “Look, I don’t know if you believe me or whatever, but I really do want to call a truce. Come on, let’s just go have some fun somewhere.”

            Draco nibbled on his bottom lip in thought, not sure if he could trust the Gryffindor or not. Then again, if Potter really was just trying to trick him then why would he have saved him, and why would he not have kicked him out after seeing his mark?

            He shook his head after a few moments. “I can’t go anywhere, Potter… If I leave this place then I’ll be…” he trailed off, not wanting to think about what would happen when the Death Eaters got ahold of him.

            Harry reached over and hesitantly placed a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “Hey, you don’t have to worry you know. You’d be with me, Ron, and Hermione.”

            Draco’s eye twitched. “There is no way in hell you would get me to hang out with those two!”

            “They promised to be nice as long as you agree to be civil with them. It’s really not that hard to do you know… Besides, we won’t be going anywhere that anyone you know would be at, so you don’t have to worry about what someone might say. It’s not like we’re going to tell anyone you decided to hang out with us, and even if we did do you honestly think anyone would believe us?”

            The Slytherin thought about this for a moment. “…I suppose not…” he mumbled softly before he let out a defeated sigh. “I guess it would be better than being stuck in this place all summer with nothing to do whatsoever.”

            “Great!” Harry said happily. “Just try not to insult anyone, yeah? They really will try as long as you do.”

            Draco rolled his eyes. “I may not insult them, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be talking to them either,” he told him simply.

            Harry shrugged, “Whatever works for you, but I hope you won’t be as reluctant to at least talk to me. It’s more fun if you have someone to talk to after all,” he said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

            Why the hell had he agreed to this again? It was clear from the looks on Granger and Weasley’s faces that they were just as unhappy with this whole thing as Draco was. The blonde kept his eyes down while the golden trio talked about where they wanted to go, and he said nothing when asked about where he’d want to go later that evening.

            Ron glared angrily. “So is the little git going to be ignoring us all night then? If so, maybe he should just stay here,” he said simply.

            “Ron,” Hermione warned when she noticed Harry’s look. She offered a soft smile as she looked to Malfoy. “So where would you prefer to go tonight, Malfoy? We’d just like to know so we know you’ll have fun with us.”

            Draco arched a brow as he looked up at the girl, honestly surprised that she was actually talking to him politely. He would’ve figured she would be unable to stop herself from snapping like the Weasel, but apparently Granger had better control of herself. He decided if he was going to get through this evening he should just decide on one of the places they were all debating on, even though he really didn’t know the places they were talking about. “…Let’s just go where Potter suggested,” he finally said.

            The trio blinked, all of them utterly surprised to hear that he’d agreed to go somewhere one of them suggested rather than simply telling them they were going somewhere else.

            “Uh, ok… I guess you win, Harry,” Hermione told him. “If you and Ron are going to do what you did the last time you took us there, would you at least promise not to drink so much this time. I really don’t want to be responsible for getting you all back home safely.”

            Ron grinned. “Oh come on, you know making those fake IDs was bloody brilliant. Muggles can’t tell if you’re using magic like wizards can. I just wish they had stronger stuff, like Firewhiskey.”

            “Oh please, like you need anything that strong after what happened last time Harry took us to that club,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion. “Wait, what? What are you talking about muggles for?”

            Harry chuckled. “The club you agreed to go to that I picked out is a muggle club. It’s the only place we’d be able to get in and really have some fun since they can’t tell if you’re using magic to fake anything or not.”

            Draco glared darkly. “I do **not** associate with muggles! Pick somewhere else!”

            Harry smirked. “Too late. You already agreed, so just shut it and let’s get going already,” he told the boy as he grabbed his arm to pull him out the door.

            Draco tensed up as soon as he was outside, and his eyes darted around in fear. He tried not to let his panic show, and he instead tried to cover his panic with anger. “Let go of me, Potter! I don’t recall saying you could touch me!” he snapped.

            “Oh would you just relax? We’re not going to the club already, it’s way too early. I thought we could go a few other places first. You can even pick one of the places if you’d like,” he told him.

            Hermione and Ron looked at each other in shock as they followed after the other two, wondering what the hell had suddenly gotten into their friend. Normally Harry wasn’t so eager to leave Sirius and Lupin, and it was especially odd to see him grabbing onto Malfoy and dragging him around as if he was one of their friends.

            Draco thought about it for a moment as his eyes continued to dart around, but he tried to keep himself calm. The more he looked around the more he could tell they weren’t in the wizarding world, so that had to mean he was safe…right? But how did he even get in the muggle world in the first place? Hell, how did he even get away from those Death Eaters that were chasing him in the first place?! He honestly couldn’t even remember that!

            Either way he had to be safe here, right? Wasn’t this the safest place for him at the moment? There was obviously a reason why the Dark Lord hadn’t been able to find Potter ever since the dark wizard was revived, and that reason was obviously because Potter wasn’t in the wizarding world where most would assume he was.

            Harry frowned as the blonde suddenly went silent on him, and he moved his hand to his shoulder. “Draco?” he called softly.

            The Slytherin blinked and shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I don’t know any places around here so I don’t care where we go…” he finally mumbled.

            Ron wasn’t sure what the little snake was up to, but he knew this all had to be some kind of trick if Malfoy was involved, and he was going to find out what he was playing at. Seriously, he was never this compliant!

            “So, where are we going first, mate?” Ron asked curiously.

            Harry thought about it. “Well, Hermione said she wanted to go skating, so we can go there first. After that we could visit Fred and George at their shop in Diagon Alley like you wanted, then we could grab a bite to eat somewhere, and then we’ll head to the club. Sound good to you guys?”

            Draco frowned. He really didn’t like the idea of that… He’d seen plenty of people skating the black lake in the winter when it was frozen but he’d never partaken in the activity himself, so he tried to save himself from having to admit he didn’t know how to skate. “How could we do that, Potter, it’s the middle of summer! There’s no ice anywhere.”

            Ron crossed his arms. “As much as I hate to say it, Malfoy’s right. How could we skate when there’s no ice anywhere?”

            Hermione giggled while Harry smiled.

            “We’re going to a skating rink, Ron, and we’re not ice skating, it’s roller skating. It’s less cold, and if you already know how to ice skate then this should be really easy for you.”

            Draco nervously licked his lips. “What’s so fun about going around in circles in weird shoes? How about we just go flying instead if we’re going to do something pointless like that?” he suggested.

            “We can’t fly around here, Malfoy, there are muggles everywhere,” Hermione reminded him.

            Draco frowned. “So we go somewhere where we **can** fly then.”

            The others eyed him curiously.

            “Or we could just go to this skating rink since it’s Hermione’s pick,” Ron told him.

            The blonde grimaced, deciding to just shut up about it before they started asking why he was so against it. He reluctantly let himself be dragged along and he forced himself to stay composed and calm as he continued to simply look around to be sure they weren’t being followed by anyone.

            Draco had to hold back a groan when they made it to the skating rink just for them to head inside and over to the counter to pay for some skates. He glared and crossed his arms when Potter turned to him just to tell him to hurry and tell them the size he needed, and he quickly muttered to the woman behind the counter just to take the damn things and make his way to one of the benches.

            “This is stupid…” he mumbled as he simply let the skates sit there while the others quickly laced up, Granger being the first to hop up and make her way out onto the rink.

            “Aren’t you coming?” Harry asked curiously once he was done with his own skates and he noticed Draco hadn’t switched out his shoes for the skates yet.

            “You’re kidding, right? You don’t honestly expect me to participate in something so boring, do you?”

            Harry arched a brow as Ron made his way past him just to make it out onto the floor, and Harry wondered if he could coax Draco into skating with them. “It’s not boring, it’s fun. Besides, I did pay for you so you might as well take advantage of it. If not you’re going to be sitting over here all by yourself the whole time, and we’re probably going to be here for quite some time,” he told him, smirking when he noticed the boy shoot him a glare, and he watched as Draco pursed his lips and started switching out his shoes for the skates.

            Draco didn’t really want to, but perhaps if he at least put the stupid skates on it would make Potter go away and leave him alone. But of course the boy couldn’t do that now could he? He just has to stand there and wait for him the whole damn time!

            The Slytherin let out an aggravated sigh as he got to his feet, trying to be careful since he really didn’t want to make a fool of himself. He could do this. After all, how hard could it be really? If the Weasel could even do this then there was no reason he wouldn’t be able to do it too, right?

            He was a bit hesitant as he held onto the wall to make his way onto the rink, and when he saw how easily Potter shot past him to join his friends he took a deep breath and attempted to move away from the wall, which was apparently a bad idea since his feet slid out from under him and he hit the ground. He quickly grabbed onto the wall to pull himself up, but he was shaky on his feet even as he simply stood in one spot.

            Harry was honestly surprised to see Draco having troubles, but he had to admit it suddenly made sense as to why he’d seemed so against skating.

            Ron just laughed as he watched Malfoy wobbling and falling and clinging to the wall like a wet cat. “Oh this is just brilliant. This has to be the best thing I’ve ever seen! Look at him, he can’t even stand up! Who’d have thought the pompous git actually can’t do something as simple as this!”

            Draco felt his cheeks heating up as he heard the Weasel cracking up at his expense, and if he could’ve, he would’ve just made his way back to that bench, got his shoes on, and run out of there as fast as he could. As it was, he wasn’t having much luck at the moment so he couldn’t exactly make a quick getaway.

            Harry’s eyes gentled as he watched Draco struggling, and he knew Ron’s stupid blabbering wasn’t helping anything, so he slowly made his way over to the other boy. He smiled as he reached out and offered a hand to him. “Need a hand?”

            Draco’s blush darkened as he glared up at the Gryffindor and let go of the wall just to knock Potter’s hand away and try to push him back, though he realized a second after he reached out to push him that he shouldn’t have let go of the wall like that seeing as Potter barely moved while he found himself falling once more.

            Harry couldn’t stop himself from chuckling as he reached out once more. “Come on, let me help.”

            The Slytherin nibbled on his bottom lip in thought as he looked to the hand that was being offered to him, and he finally let out a defeated sigh as he hesitantly reached up and allowed Potter to help him up.

            He turned his face away from him as he was hauled to his feet. “Going to rub it in now, Potter?” he spat defensively.

            The brunette chuckled and shook his head. “It’s no big deal that you don’t know how to skate, Dray. I can help you out until you get the hang of it.”

            Draco looked at the other teen in shock. Did he just call him Dray?

            “…What do I have to do?” he finally asked.

            “Just keep ahold of my hands and get used to moving forward. When you think you’ve got the hang of it and want to try on your own just let me know and I’ll let go.”

            “How can I move forward if you’re in my way?”

            Harry smiled just to take a quick look over his shoulder before he carefully started skating backwards.

            “…Bloody showoff,” Draco muttered in frustration as he tightened his grip on Potter’s hands when he felt he was about to fall again. “This is ridiculous…” he growled under his breath as he allowed himself to be led along. He didn’t like having the Gryffindor holding his hands and dragging him around, and he especially didn’t like it since he could hear the weasel and that mudblood talking about it.

            “There see? You look like you’re getting the hang of it already. Want me to try letting go?” Harry asked curiously.

            Without answering Draco gave his hand a squeeze before he slowly let go, but it must’ve been too soon since he started to fall. By instinct he reached out and grabbed onto Potter’s shirt, which only served to drag the other boy down on top of him when he fell. He blinked as he felt him between his legs, and he felt his face flaming as he realized the compromising position they were in.

            “G-Get the hell off of me Potter!” he growled as he tried to push him off of him.

            “Ok, ok! I’m trying if you’d stop hitting me,” Harry told him as he shifted to get up, shivering as the movement caused him to grind against Draco a bit. He was about to push himself up and get off of the Slytherin when their gazes suddenly locked, and Harry froze as he stared into those hypnotic, gorgeous, blue-gray eyes.

            Draco found himself frozen as well as he stared into the brunette’s emerald orbs, and he was surprised to find that he noticed flecks of gold mixed in. He always knew Potter had alluring eyes, but with him staring at him so intently he felt as though the other teen was staring straight through to his soul.

            “Uhm…P-Potter?” he finally muttered, his heart thundering in his chest as he noticed the boy’s face moving closer to his.

            Harry snapped out of it when Draco spoke, and it was only then that he realized just how close their faces were. His own cheeks burned a bright red as he quickly got himself up and he helped Draco to his feet. “Uh, s-sorry about that,” he mumbled awkwardly as he looked away. “Uh, a-anyways, you want to give it another go by yourself?”

            “And have it putting us both back in the floor? I don’t think so,” Draco told him as he simply tightened his grip on the Gryffindor’s hands.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Ron was utterly speechless as he watched the whole interaction between Harry and Malfoy after that git pulled Harry down, and he honestly felt he was about to pass out.

            Hermione wasn’t sure what to think about what she saw since it really was shocking, but at the same time she hadn’t been able to stop herself from thinking that Harry and Malfoy actually looked rather cute together. The way Harry was holding onto the other boy to help him skate was just so adorable and made them look like a couple, and then of course when they’d been on the ground…

            The girl felt her cheeks heat up a bit as she found herself thinking about it again. Gods, it had her holding her breath when she’d seen Harry’s face moving closer to the blonde’s as though he were going to kiss him.

            She turned to Ron since he still hadn’t said anything, and she blinked as she noticed his jaw was dropped open and he was still staring at the spot their friend and the Slytherin had fallen.

            “Uh, earth to Ron. Are you in there?” she asked as she waved a hand in front of his face. She shook her head when he didn’t respond, and she grabbed onto his arm. “Maybe we should just go sit down for a few minutes,” she suggested, worried he was going to faint on her as she dragged him off of the floor and over to a table.

            She kept her eye on Harry and Malfoy as they skated, a few things clicking in her mind as she watched the way Harry kept smiling at the Slytherin and looking at him the way he was. She’d never seen him like that with anyone before. He never looked at Ginny like that even though she and Ron were trying to get them together, and he’d never been like that when he was dating Cho either.

            Harry had never shown too much interest in girls at all that she had seen, and when he did show interest he’d merely say he liked them and thought they were pretty. The only girl she knew of that he’d ever even kissed was Cho, and that relationship hadn’t lasted long at all. Even then he didn’t seem that happy when they were dating, and he hadn’t seemed too horribly upset when they broke up either.

            Hermione’s eyes widened as she thought back to several nights ago when they were all out with Ginny, and Harry had made that comment about possibly not being into girls. Sure he’d started laughing when they all started bombarding him with questions, but maybe he wasn’t laughing because he was joking. Maybe he was laughing because he realized they’d be ok with it and were just curious as to when he found this out.

            She tapped her fingers against the table in thought as she watched her friend, and she couldn’t help but think it all made sense now about him and his weird obsession with Malfoy ever since the two had met. He always had to say something in reply to one of Malfoy’s insults if they saw each other in the hallway, he always stared at the Slytherin table whenever they were in the Great Hall, and he couldn’t seem to go too long talking to her and Ron without bringing Malfoy up in the conversation at one point or another.

            “Oh my god…” she whispered under her breath.

            How had she not noticed this before?! It was just so clear as she watched them that Harry had a thing for the Slytherin! Normally she would be excited to know he was crushing on someone and she’d try to help him get said crush’s attention, but this was Draco Malfoy they were talking about here! He wasn’t good for Harry in the least! Out of all the people he could like, why did it have to be him?!

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry was curious as to why Ron and Hermione weren’t out on the rink anymore when he spotted them over at a table, but he wasn’t really able to pay that much attention since his main focus was on Draco. He noticed the boy was starting to get a little better after a while so he removed one of his hands and moved next to him, keeping a firm grip on the hand he still had ahold of.

            “What are you doing?” Draco asked a little nervously.

            “Well, since you’re doing better, I thought I’d try to just let go of one of your hands instead of just completely letting go of you,” he replied simply.

            Draco frowned. “Well you could just try letting go and staying out of my way so I don’t end up pulling you down,” he said simply, gasping when he suddenly felt someone run into him and he almost fell.

            Harry quickly pulled him to his side to keep him upright. “You sure you want me to do that? People normally run into you a lot, especially if they’re not paying attention because they’re talking to someone or they’re getting into the music.”

            Draco grimaced, not liking the thought of Potter hanging onto him the way he was but hating the thought of having someone running into him and knocking him on his ass that much more. “Or we could just get off of the rink for a bit. I mean, you’ve been helping me for a while already.”

            Harry didn’t really want to do that but he didn’t see a problem in sitting down for a bit, so he led Draco off of the floor and over to one of the tables, arching a brow as he noticed Ron and Hermione were missing and that they must be back out on the rink.

            He looked to Draco when he heard the other sigh, and he grinned to see Draco looked rather relaxed at the moment.

            “Jesus, Potter, this whole skating thing is pure torture. Why would that mud-er, I mean Granger, want to do something like this for fun?”

            “Because it is fun.”

            Draco rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, because Merlin knows it was just so much fun falling on my ass out there in front of all of those stupid muggles, not to mention having you holding onto me like I’m a two year old and then having you falling on top of me.”

            Harry smiled. “It wasn’t that bad you know.”

            Draco frowned. Of course Potter wouldn’t know how bad it was for him. He couldn’t stand to be held down anymore, even if it was for a few minutes…though he supposed it hadn’t been too bad when Harry was over him.

            He blinked at the thought. _“Wait…did I just think of him as Harry?”_

            “So are you sure there’s nowhere in particular you’d like us to go to? I mean, I just think it’s fair that we all get to go someplace we’d like so everyone’s happy.”

            Draco shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I already told you it’s fine… Anywhere is better than sitting in that house bored out of my mind all day I suppose.”

            “You know, it wouldn’t be so boring if you didn’t stay up in your room all day.”

            Draco scoffed. “And what am I supposed to do? Come out and hang out with you, Black, and Lupin? No thanks.”

            “It wouldn’t kill you, and besides that they’re fun to be around. It might make Sirius less suspicious of you too,” Harry suggested. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, Dray, but I really do want for us to just start over. I mean this whole ‘I hate you, you hate me’ thing is just stupid. I don’t hate you and I never did, but I did think you were an ass.”

            The Slytherin raised a brow in curiosity. “Were? What about now?”

            Harry grinned. “You’re not as bad as you made me think you were. Sure you can still be a bit of a prick, but it’s not as bad as how you used to be… Oddly enough it seems like you’re trying not to cause too much trouble at Grimmauld Place.”

            “Yeah, well, it’s not like I want to give anyone a reason to throw me out.”

            “You’ve been trying to start a fight with me ever since you’ve been with us and you’re saying you didn’t want to give anyone a reason to throw you out?”

            Draco shrugged. “Well I thought if I could get you to pull your wand on me first I wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

            “…So you are worried about what might happen if we make you leave then.”

            The blonde scoffed. “I never said that.”

            “What happened to you wasn’t just because of someone seeing your mark, was it? You’re afraid whoever it is will find you, aren’t you?”

            “Don’t be ridiculous, Potter. I’m not afraid of anything,” Draco said simply, not liking where this conversation was suddenly headed.

            “Ok…but you obviously don’t want whoever it was to find you again. What did they even do to you anyways?”

            “It’s none of your business!” Draco snapped. “You’re right, I **don’t** want them to find me, but what happened doesn’t concern you so just drop it!”

            Harry blinked in surprise at the blonde’s sudden tone. “Whoa, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to piss you off or anything-I was just curious.”

            He nervously licked his lips as he looked out onto the rink and he thought about it for a moment. “Uh, how about you just forget I said anything and let’s go skate some more?”

            Draco pursed his lips, not seeing how he seemed to think he would be able to forget he brought it up just like that, but if he stayed mad about it then he’d just be thinking about it all day, and he really didn’t want to think about **that**.

            He looked up when he noticed Harry getting up, and his eyes moved to his hand that was being held out to him.

            “What do you say? Can we just forget about this and go have some more fun?” Harry asked softly.

            The blonde let out a soft sigh and found himself offering a small smile as he reached up and took the Gryffindor’s hand. “Just make sure you don’t fall on me again or I swear I’ll hex you into next week.”

            Harry chuckled. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying something like that to you? After all, you were the one who pulled me down.”

            Draco’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink at that. “Shut up, Potter…”


	6. Chapter 6

            Draco was uncomfortable as they flashed their fake IDs to the bouncer outside of the club, and he was even  more uncomfortable as they all made their way inside. He didn’t like the thought of being around all these muggles, though he supposed it hadn’t been that bad when they were at the skating rink or when they went to that diner for lunch.

            Actually, all in all, he had to say that the day wasn’t bad at all so far. The Weasley twins had seemed to be a bit surprised to see him with the golden trio when they visited their shop in Diagon Alley, but they didn’t really say anything as they showed them all the new creations of theirs. Then by the time they’d gone to lunch he had actually found that hanging around all of them wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be, and he’d found he was enjoying himself.

            He finally started to relax a bit as he was led over to a bar, and he blinked when he suddenly had a drink in front of him and he looked to see Potter smiling at him. He eyed the drink for a moment before he picked it up and hesitantly took a sip just to decide it wasn’t too bad. Draco honestly wasn’t too used to drinking since he only ever usually had a sip of wine here and there at some of his parents’ parties, so this alcohol was quite an interesting change.

            “Man, Ginny’s gonna be so pissed when she finds out we came here without her,” Ron said as he ordered himself a drink. “Too bad she couldn’t come with us.”

            Harry shrugged. “She’ll get over it. She can always come some other time with some of her friends if she tells them about this place.” After he downed his drink he turned to Draco. “So, want to dance?”

            Ron spit out his drink in shock and looked at his friend as though he’d just grown a second head.

            Draco blinked, caught off guard by the sudden question. “What?”

            “Do you want to dance?” Harry repeated.

            “I don’t dance, Potter. The Yule Ball was torture enough.”

            “Well this isn’t a ball, it’s a club. No one really pays attention to you since they’re all crowded together and dancing themselves. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

            Draco frowned. “No thanks. I think I’ll just have another one of these drinks instead.”

            “…I think I’m gonna go find Hermione,” Ron muttered just to quickly head out onto the dance floor.

            Harry smiled, ignoring Ron and hoping Draco would be changing his mind after a few more drinks. “Ok. I’ll buy you a few more drinks, and then we can dance.”

            Draco rolled his eyes. “If I already told you I don’t dance, what the hell makes you think I’d change my mind anytime soon?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry watched Draco as he downed his drinks, and it was only when the other teen started to look a little flushed that he realized he didn’t know what kind of drunk Draco was. What if he was an angry drunk and he started some kind of fight and got them kicked out of the club? Or what if he was a sleepy drunk and passed out on him or something? It honestly made him want to slap himself for not asking.

            He tensed up a bit, waiting for what was going to happen when he noticed the blonde suddenly turn towards him, and he nervously licked his lips as Draco downed the rest of his last drink and set it on the bar. He arched a brow when he noticed him smiling at him, and his mouth dropped open in shock when Draco started to lean closer to him.

            “Hey, what’re we doing sitting around here for?” the Slytherin slurred.

            Harry smiled. “Well, you were having a few drinks, and I was waiting to see if you’d change your mind about dancing.”

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion. “Change my mind about dancing?”

            “Yeah. You said you didn’t want to dance, so I was waiting to see if you’d change your mind.”

            The blonde scoffed. “You must be cracked, Potter. No way I said no dancing,” he said as he got to his feet.

            Harry was a little concerned as he noticed him sway on his feet a bit so he reached out and grabbed onto his hips to steady him, and he was surprised when Draco suddenly grabbed his hands, a smile on his face.

            “Getting grabby now are ya?” he chuckled and pulled him out of his seat and out into the middle of the dance floor.

            Harry was honestly surprised to see Draco so…bubbly. Sure, he knew it could happen, but he honestly expected Draco to be a different kind of drunk rather than a bubbly one. It was just odd to see him looking so relaxed and hearing him talking so funny, not to mention giggling.

            He’d been expecting curses, fighting, a few slurs in his words here and there, and even a lot more smart remarks from him. He wasn’t expecting this…but he had to admit he liked seeing the blonde like this.

            Harry arched a brow as he watched Draco curiously, wondering why he had been so against dancing at first when he appeared to be a good dancer. Seriously, it wasn’t like he had to worry about anyone saying anything with the way he moved, though he would probably have to worry about having a bunch of random people grinding up on him.

            Harry frowned at the thought, though he was snapped out of it when Draco suddenly jerked him close and wrapped his arms around his neck. The brunette licked his lips as Draco gave a sly smile, and oh lord… His hands slid down the Slytherin’s body to rest on his hips as the boy moved, and honestly the way he was dancing against him made him think some rather…interesting things.

            He gasped as Draco suddenly turned in his arms and began grinding back against him.

            “Mmm, for someone who wanted to dance, you’re not really doing much,” Draco purred. “If you don’t really want to then I can always find someone who will.”

            Harry blinked as the blonde started to pull away from him, and he frowned just to reach out and grab the Slytherin to pull him back to him once more. “Can’t have you doing that now can I?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Hermione looked over the crowds to try and spot Harry and Draco, and as soon as she found them her eyes widened to see them dancing so close together. She wasn’t sure what to think with seeing them grinding up against each other the way they were, but if she was completely honest she was rather worried. She was happy that Harry seemed to be rather happy with the way things were going, but it was with Draco Malfoy!

            The witch was all for giving people second chances, but with how he’d treated them all over the years she didn’t see how Harry could allow something like this so easily. Surely he had to know that this could all be some kind of trick, though what Malfoy could stand to gain out of this was still something to ponder.

            Was there really a reason for him to be doing something like this to Harry? Surely it couldn’t simply be for fun. When Malfoy was involved there was always a reason behind his actions, so what could his reasons be for this? How did he even end up with Harry in the first place? What could he have possibly said or done that would make Harry let Malfoy stay with him?

            Hermione was determined to find this out, and she would eventually get it out of Harry one way or another. Of course, for right now, that could wait. With how tipsy Ron was starting to look at the moment she decided it would be better to just forget about Malfoy for the moment and have some fun-and hopefully get Ron to dance with her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry was getting rather amused with how Draco was acting. He found himself smiling as the blonde grabbed his hands and had him place them on his body, which he gladly complied with, and he shivered as the other teen grinded back against him. Normally he wasn’t one for dancing, but it was actually fun with the Slytherin.

            He felt his heart start to race when Draco suddenly pulled him close, and their faces were so close together he was extremely tempted to just lean in and steal a kiss. Of course, when this thought registered in his mind his face turned a dark shade of red and he quickly pulled back a bit, glad the boy seemed to be too buzzed to really notice.

            The whole day he’d spent with Draco had him noticing just how wrong he’d been about him this whole time. Draco really wasn’t that bad to be around, and he seemed to get along with Ron and Hermione just fine, even able to somehow manage to ignore Ron when he tried to egg him on. Honestly Harry had to give Draco credit for that one since Ron was being rather rude and seemed to be trying everything he could to get Draco to act out, and really Harry wouldn’t have blamed him if he did considering.

            It just made him want to know that much more about Draco, and of course if he was being completely honest it made him really like him. He liked being able to see this relaxed, fun side of him, and he liked seeing that beautiful smile of his… It wasn’t his usual ‘I’m better than you’ smirk that all the Malfoys managed to master either, so that just made him like it that much more.

            The Gryffindor was brought out of his thoughts when he suddenly felt Draco’s arms around his neck, and he noticed a slow song had started playing. He nervously licked his lips as Draco leaned in and rested his head on his shoulder, and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist.

            “We should do this again sometime,” Draco said with a soft sigh. “Can’t remember ever having fun like this,” he admitted, his mind fuzzy from all of the drink’s he had.

            Harry arched a brow as they slowly swayed to the music. “Really? And here I heard you Slytherins throw some pretty wild parties at school. Still haven’t figured out how you manage to do that without the teachers finding out, but I’ve overheard several Slytherins talking about parties before.”

            Draco laughed. “I never go to those. Just a bunch of sex and drinking…and there’s no one to talk to since Crabbe and Goyle stay at the bar the whole time and Blaise is too busy trying to get into every single Slytherin girls’ pants,” he admitted, something telling him to shut up before he ended up saying something stupid, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

            “Really? So you like talking to me then?” Harry asked curiously.

            “Maybe.”

            “Then why haven’t you been wanting to talk to me ever since you’ve been at Grimmauld Place?”

            “It’s easier to fight… It’s what I’m used to with you… After everything that happened I just wanted something to get my mind off of everything, and fighting with you is normal…”

            Harry licked his lips, wondering if he’d be able to get the information he was really wanting out of the boy right now. “Dray? What happened to you the night I found you?” he asked softly.

            He was utterly shocked to find the Slytherin trembling against him, and he frowned as he felt him clenching at his shirt.

            “…I couldn’t take anymore… I-I had to get out…”

            “What happened?”

            Draco shook his head. “I don’t want to think about that…”

            Harry nodded, deciding it would be better not to push it, and led Draco back over to the bar to get them both another drink. He was glad that the drink seemed to help since the blonde wasn’t looking so upset anymore, and as soon as they’d finished their drinks he took the other teen’s hand and led him back out onto the dance floor.

            He wasn’t sure how long they danced before another slow song came on and he thought they should take the chance to go and sit down for a rest, but before he could ask Draco if he wanted to go sit down and have a regular drink some idiot ran into him and knocked him into the blonde, their lips crashing together due to how close the two of them had been dancing.

            Harry’s eyes widened in shock and he quickly pulled back, immediately starting to apologize when he did so. He couldn’t stop saying how sorry he was as he noticed Draco’s stunned look, but before he could explain what happened he was shocked to find the Slytherin’s arms moving up to wrap around his neck and pulling him back to those soft lips.

            His heart stopped for several moments as the blonde kissed him, and he couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him back. This kiss was so much better than any kiss he had ever shared with Cho when he’d dated her. His eyes slipped close as he hesitantly slid his tongue along Draco’s bottom lip, slipping past his lips when he felt him opening his mouth for him.

            The boy shivered as he heard Draco let out a soft moan as he deepened their kiss, and he tightened his arms around the blonde’s waist to pull him closer. He wasn’t aware they were moving until Draco let out a grunt as his back hit the wall, and Harry couldn’t bring himself to pull away as he felt fingers in his hair as the kiss started to become more heated. He didn’t want things to get out of hand, gods no, but he wasn’t going to end this so soon.

            Harry knew he might never get another chance like this again, so he was going to enjoy every second of it while he could. He explored the blonde’s mouth, focusing on certain spots whenever the Slytherin made a particularly arousing sound, and he tried to memorize the way Draco felt pressed so close against him, the way his fingers tightened in his hair every time Harry tried to pull back, and the way those lips felt against his own…

            He finally broke their kiss when he felt he couldn’t breathe, and when he pulled back they were both panting breathlessly. He moved a hand up to caress Draco’s cheek, noticing he was slightly flushed.

            This was wrong wasn’t it? Draco wasn’t exactly in his right mind with how many drinks he’d had, so he should pull away. He knew that’s what he should do…so then why the hell wasn’t he doing it?! Why did he, instead, find himself moving back to those tempting lips? Why didn’t he pull away and tell Draco they should get back to dancing instead?

            Harry sighed into the kiss as Draco teasingly nipped at his lips, and he opened his mouth for him just to moan as he felt Draco’s hands sliding down his body to his ass. He let out another moan when the boy pulled him close just to slowly grind against him, and he broke their kiss to teasingly trail his lips down along the blonde’s neck.

            “Ah! H-Harry,” Draco mewled softly.

            Harry felt a shiver run through him to hear Draco saying his name so sweetly, and he had to admit he was about to start unbuttoning the other boy’s jeans until he suddenly heard what sounded like someone gasping next to him.

            “Oh my…”

            He turned to see Hermione standing there watching him in shock, and he felt his cheeks flame as he quickly pulled away from the Slytherin. “Hermione. Uh, you, uh, need something?” he asked nervously, praying she didn’t see what he was doing with Draco.

            “Oh, uh,” Hermione blushed lightly, “I was looking for you. Didn’t know where you were. It’s so hard to see in this dim light. Anyways I wanted to tell you that it’s getting late and Ron’s totally smashed, so I’m cutting him off and taking him home. Wanted to know if you wanted us to walk you back to Grimmauld Place before we head back to our Portkey. Thought you might need some help with Malfoy since I noticed he’s had a few drinks himself.”

            Harry looked back to Draco, feeling guilty as he noticed just how flushed he was and how glazed his eyes looked.

            _“Oh Merlin, and I almost… What the hell is wrong with me?! How could I do that to him? If he was in his right mind he would’ve knocked my teeth in for that accidental kiss before I could even apologize one time!”_ he thought to himself.

            He slowly nodded as he turned back to Hermione. “Sure. It’d probably be safer that way anyways, right?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry tried to be quiet when he opened the door and pulled Draco inside, waving to Ron and Hermione before he closed the door. The house was dark and rather quiet, so he hoped that meant Lupin was having an easy night tonight…though when he passed by the basement door he heard what sounded like a pitiful whine coming from downstairs, and it made his chest tighten to hear his godfather suffering like that. _“At least he has Sirius with him to keep him company,”_ he thought as he helped Draco upstairs.

            He let out a relieved sigh once they’d made it up to Draco’s bedroom, and he was about to leave and head to his own when he suddenly felt a hand around his wrist and he looked to see Draco giving him a sly smile.

            “Uh…what?” he asked nervously.

            Draco moved closer and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck. “You’re not leaving already are you? We just got here,” he slurred.

            Harry gently pushed the other teen away. “Yes, I’m heading to my room to shower and get to bed. You should probably head to bed yourself,” he told him, just to freeze when he noticed him pouting adorably. He nervously licked his lips as Draco’s arms wound around his waist and pulled him close just to feel him nuzzling against his chest. “Dray?”

            “You should stay…” Draco mumbled softly.

            Harry frowned. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

            Draco pulled back a bit to look up into those hypnotic green orbs, and he smiled before he leaned up and placed a soft kiss to those delicious lips. “Mmm, stay,” he ordered.

            Harry wanted to pull away and tell him to just get some sleep and he’d see him in the morning…but gods it was so tempting to just give in and do as Draco wanted. So when he felt those velvet lips trailing down his neck as those soft hands slipped under the front of his shirt, he couldn’t resist and he nodded. “O-Ok…” he mumbled before the blonde pulled him over to the bed and jerked him down on top of him.

            Harry let out a gasp as he felt the blonde’s arousal against his thigh, and his eyes darkened in lust as he slowly trailed a hand down the Slytherin’s chest and slipped it under his shirt to caress the soft skin underneath.

            He licked his lips as he felt the blonde trembling underneath him and heard him let out a shaky breath, and he leaned down to capture his lips once more.


	7. Chapter 7

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion, groaning in pain and quickly covering his eyes when the light streaming through the window sent a wave of pain crashing through his head. A soft whimper escaped him as he tried to sit up, and he froze when he suddenly seemed to register something was draped over his waist, and when he hesitantly pressed back he could feel someone laying behind him.

            _“Oh my god, what happened last night?!”_ he internally panicked, only panicking more when he looked down at himself and he noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt. _“No, no, no, no, no!”_ he thought repeatedly, praying he didn’t do what this was certainly starting to look like.

            The Slytherin carefully wormed his way out from under the arm holding him just to turn to see where he was and who he was with, feeling as though he were just sucker punched in the gut as he noticed Harry bleeding Potter was the one in bed with him! He immediately felt bile rise in the back of his throat at the thought that something happened, that he’d allowed something to happen even after…

            He felt tears burning his eyes as he quickly jumped up out of the bed and made a run for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before he was emptying his stomach. He was trying to get himself to calm down by the time he was dry-heaving since he felt as though he were on the verge of hyperventilating and passing out, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he suddenly felt a hand on his back.

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa! It’s ok,” Harry said softly, his eyes gentling as he noticed the blonde shivering violently. “Man, I thought you’d gotten all that out last night,” he murmured as he filled up the cup he had in there from last night with water so the Slytherin could rinse his mouth out.

            “Wh-What… What happened?” Draco asked, his voice wavering a bit at the thought of what he was about to hear.

            “Yeah, not really surprised you don’t remember considering how drunk you were last night,” Harry admitted with a sheepish smile just to let out a weary sigh. “Ok, well, uh… Do you…remember anything about last night yourself?” he asked a little hesitantly.

            “If I fucking knew, do you really think I’d be asking?!” the blonde snapped, wincing when all that did was send off another wave of pain in his head. “I remember everything up until… I don’t know, sometime in the club… I remember us getting drinks at the bar and you trying to get me to dance…and then…” Draco trailed off, brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to remember, just for his eyes to widen as he could’ve sworn he remembered kissing Potter!

            “Then…?” Harry prompted.

            “N-Nothing… I-I don’t remember anything else,” Draco said quickly, hoping if he just pretended it didn’t happen the brunette wouldn’t bring it up.

            “Ok…well…like I said, you were pretty drunk… So, when we got home, I helped you up to bed… You didn’t want me to leave though, so I stayed with you,” Harry explained, not sure if he should mention the fact that they’d spent the better part of the night making out until Draco had passed out on him only to wake up a couple of hours later with Harry having to help him to the bathroom so he could get all those drinks up.

            “Uh-huh, and why in the hell am I half naked?”

            “You kind of got sick in the middle of the night and it got on your shirt. I had Kreacher take it to get it cleaned for you. You didn’t want to take a shower, and you didn’t really look like you could’ve stood up in one for long anyways, so I just wiped you down with a wet towel and you went back to bed.”

            “So you didn’t… I mean, nothing…really crazy happened, right?” Draco asked worriedly.

            “No…” Harry muttered, honesty conflicted on whether or not he should tell him what all had happened between the two of them or not. Of course, if the look on Draco’s face was anything to go by, it looked like he already knew about what happened and just didn’t want to talk about it, so maybe he should just leave it alone.

            He nervously licked his lips as he watched the blonde flush the toilet and get up and rinse his mouth out several times. “So, uh, why don’t you go lay back down and I’ll bring something up to help with your hangover,” he suggested since he didn’t know any spells or potions to cure a hangover since Sirius and Lupin had already told him if he and his friends were going to overindulge themselves on alcohol they deserved to live with the consequences afterwards.

            Draco, feeling way too sick and dizzy to argue, merely gave a small nod and shuffled past the Gryffindor and over to his bed to lay down and pull the covers up over his head.

            Harry paused at the door for a few minutes to look to Draco’s bed and make sure he was ok before he quickly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, offering a soft smile when he noticed Sirius was closely watching Kreacher’s every move as the elf made breakfast. “Morning. How’s Lupin doing?”

            Sirius looked up to give a small nod to his godson in greeting. “He’ll be alright. He’s just resting right now. He had a fairly easy night last night since I tried making his potion a little stronger than usual. What about you? You got in pretty late.”

            “I’m fine. Dray’s worse off than me at the moment since he drank a lot more than I did.”

            Sirius blinked just to arch a brow at that. “Dray?” he questioned, smirking when he noticed the boy’s cheeks turning a dark shade of red. “Right… So you didn’t lose the little snake while you were out last night then, huh? Shame.”

            The young wizard let out an exasperated sigh. “Sirius-”

            “I know, I know. I’m not going to argue with you on this again, Harry. I am trying to give him a chance, believe me. If I wasn’t then he would’ve been thrown out of here on his ass days ago.”

            The boy shook his head but said nothing as he watched the elf curiously. “Why are you letting him make breakfast? I thought you stopped letting him cook because you didn’t trust him.”

            “Yes, well, you forget Remus and you are the cooks around here. Since Remus isn’t exactly in the best condition right now and I had no idea when you would be getting up, I decided I might as well have him do it as long as I’m watching him,” Sirius admitted. “What are you doing up so early anyway? I assumed you’d be sleeping for quite some time yet.”

            “Yeah, well, Dray woke me up. I thought he got it all out of his system when he woke up in the middle of the night last night, but he got sick again so I thought I’d come down and get him something for his headache and to help settle his stomach.”

            Sirius blinked at that. “Wait… He woke you up in the middle of the night and again this morning?” he asked just for his eyes to widen when he realized there was no way Malfoy would have gotten up and gone all the way to Harry’s room just to wake him up and throw his guts up. “You boys stayed in the same room?”

            Harry blushed as he nervously cleared his throat. “Uh, well, I mean… He may have gotten a little carried away last night and had a bit too much to drink when we were out. So I, uh, I decided to stay in his room with him to make sure he was ok.”

            Sirius stared at his godson in stunned silence, honestly amazed since he could tell the boy was lying.

            Harry felt his face growing hotter the longer Sirius remained silent, and when he finally chanced a glance at him he thickly swallowed and nervously licked his lips. “Wh-What?”

            Sirius shook his head and held up his hands. “Just wondering why you feel the need to lie to me.”

            “I-I’m not-”

            “Harry,” the man interrupted just to give him a look, “if you don’t want to tell me then that’s fine, but don’t lie to me-you’re not very good at it,” he said truthfully, smirking as he noticed the kid look down guiltily.

            “Right… Anyways, I should probably hurry up and get back upstairs,” Harry muttered embarrassedly as he quickly made his way over to the herb cabinet and started looking through it while trying to remember what exactly went into healing potions for headaches. Honestly it was times like this he thought about just going out and stocking up on Ibuprofen and Aspirin so he wouldn’t have to try and make a hangover cure when he sucked at potions.

            Sirius, seeing Harry staring in the herb cabinet and trying to decide on what he should get out, decided to be nice and simply said, “Ginger tea, banana pancakes, and bacon for his stomach, and an ice pack for his head.”

            Harry paused and looked to his godfather in surprise. “I thought you and Lupin said you weren’t going to help us with hangovers since we deserved to live with the consequences if we overindulged ourselves.”

            “Yes, well, that was really more Remus than me. Besides, it’s not like I’m giving you a spell or a potion that will work in an instant, so I don’t have to worry about getting in trouble with him. I’m just giving you a tip that Lily had for us the first time she saw me, your father, and Remus after a small party we had in the boys’ dorm. Said that was the muggle remedy that always worked for her parents whenever they’d go out and drink too much. It does work. We used it for a while before James managed to come up with a spell that worked much faster, but since I doubt Remus would appreciate me giving you that while you’re still underage, that and he hopes the hangovers will keep you kids from going too overboard on the drinks, all I can do is give you a tip. Seems fair since your mother was the one that gave it to us.”

            The young wizard smiled and nodded in thanks before he quickly made breakfast on the side of the stove Kreacher wasn’t using, being careful to keep out of his way since the elf didn’t seem too happy to have him cooking next to him, and he made some ginger tea and a makeshift icepack before heading back upstairs to Draco’s room.

            He frowned once he made it inside and he saw the bed was empty only to hear him in the bathroom. He shook his head as he set the tray of food down and made his way over to the bathroom door and gave a soft knock. “You ok, Dray?”

            “Piss off, Potter,” Draco groaned pitifully.

            Harry sighed and opened the door as Draco flushed the toilet and moved to the sink to wash his hands and rinse his mouth out.

            “Last I checked ‘piss off’ means you’re supposed to leave, not waltz into a room anyway,” Draco grumbled as he carefully made his way past the Gryffindor and over to his bed to slip under the covers, glaring when Harry followed after him and started reaching for the pillows behind him and propping them up.

            “Get out. I feel like shit, so I’m going to sleep.”

            “No, you’re going to keep this on your head,” Harry held up the icepack, “and you’re going to drink your tea and eat your breakfast since it’ll help. If you want to sleep after that you can, but you really should eat first.”

            The Slytherin let out a frustrated huff and reached for the tea and gave it a sniff before taking a sip, glancing up to Potter when he felt him place something cold to his head. “…What are you doing?”

            “Putting an icepack on your head. Sirius said it should help with your headache.”

            “No, I mean, why are you still here? You brought me stuff you claim is going to help, and I’ll eat it if it really will, so why the hell are you still in here? I don’t need you hovering over me like I’m a two year old that can’t take care of himself.”

            “I just thought I should make sure you at least eat a little bit. That and I want to make sure you’re ok and that I’m here if you end up getting sick again and need help getting back to bed or something.”

            “Well, I’m fine, and I’m more than capable of getting to the bathroom and back to the bed on my own, so you can you save yourself some time and get out.”

            Harry frowned at that, unable to help but wonder what was with the attitude considering they’d seemed to actually be making some progress the day before.

            _“Maybe it’s because he remembers the kisses,”_ a traitorous thought whispered in the back of his mind as he subconsciously licked his lips and his eyes darted down to Draco’s lips for a second before he managed to pull his gaze away.

            Draco tensed when he noticed the look Potter just gave him, knowing full well he was obviously thinking about the kiss last night, which unfortunately had him thinking about it himself and internally freaking out and wondering why in the hell he’d allowed something like that to happen with Harry Potter of all people.

            “Well?” he prompted, hoping the brunette would hurry up and leave so he could go back to ignoring the kiss that was getting more vivid in his mind with every second he continued thinking about it.

            “…Ok, maybe I also just wanted some company since I know Sirius is going to be spending most of the day in his room with Lupin.”

            “Gross. I really didn’t need that mental image of them, Potter.”

            “Not like that. Lupin’s…a little under the weather,” Harry said carefully since he really wasn’t sure whether or not he should say anything about the man’s condition considering he hadn’t had to warn Draco to stay away from the basement the night before.

            “Either way, what makes you think I want your company?” Draco asked, his glare faltering a bit when he noticed Harry giving him a sad look.

            “…Are we seriously back to you being a dick to me again for no reason? After what happened yesterday I thought we were finally getting past that.”

            Draco felt his breath hitch and his stomach turned at the thought of actually talking about what happened. “Nothing happened!” he snapped defensively, really wanting to put a stop to this conversation before it got too far.

            Harry let out an exasperated sigh just to roll his eyes. “I wasn’t talking about **that**. I just meant that you actually seemed to be having fun when we were all hanging out, and you finally stopped being so much of an ass. Or are you acting like this because of what you’re obviously not wanting us to talk about?”

            The Slytherin tensed at that and gritted his teeth as he shot the other teen a glare that was ruined by the blush staining his cheeks. “If it’s obvious I don’t want to talk about it then why the hell are you bringing it up?!”

            “We don’t have to talk about it, but don’t start acting like an asshole again just because it happened! If you’re pissed about it, then I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have let it happen when you were so smashed, and I know that so I’m sorry.”

            Draco looked down at that, too taken aback and embarrassed about the whole situation to really give any kind of retort.

            Harry frowned and let out another soft sigh after a few moments of awkward silence. “You know what, on second thought, you seem like you’re alright so I’m just going to go check on Ron and Hermione. I’ll check in on you again later.”

            Draco glanced up at the Gryffindor and watched as he made his way from the room, and he furrowed his brows in confusion when he found himself wishing Harry wouldn’t have just left even though that’s what he’d wanted him to do.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry stopped by the kitchen to let Sirius know he was going to the Weasleys’ to check up on Ron and Hermione-if she was there today-and that he’d be back later before he made his way over to the floo and grabbed a handful of floo powder.

            When the green flames disappeared he brushed off his clothes and stepped out into the living room, and he offered a smile when Ginny looked up from the book she was reading and grinned at him.

            “Harry! I didn’t think you’d be coming over any time soon since you never came over last night like you said you would,” Ginny said as she made her way over to her friend and pulled him into a short hug before pulling back and slapping his arm. “And I saw Hermione sneak Ron in last night, you jerk. Why didn’t you guys tell me you were going out last night? You know I love that club.”

            Harry laughed. “Sorry, Gin, you should’ve went with Ron and ‘Mione when they came over yesterday.”

            “If I knew you guys were going to be going out to the club later then I would’ve met you all there.”

            “It’s not like that was the plan right off the bat. We all decided on what each of us wanted to do before I suggested going to the club when it got later. Besides, it’s not like you can’t go yourself with some of your other friends any time you want.”

            “So? Doesn’t mean I don’t still like hanging out with you lot. And thanks to Fred and George it just makes me wish I could’ve been there even more since I don’t believe them.”

            Harry furrowed his brows in confusion at that. “Fred and George?”

            “They told us at dinner last night that you all stopped by their shop yesterday and that a certain Slytherin was with you. I would’ve asked Ron if that was true but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him or Hermione when they got in last night since they didn’t want to risk running into Mum or Dad.”

            “It’s true. Draco went out with us last night.”

            Ginny blinked in shock at the confirmation, and at the fact Harry just referred to the other boy as ‘Draco’ rather than ‘Malfoy’. “Why?”

            “He’s been staying at Grimmauld Place for the past week, and I thought it might do him some good to get out for a while so I talked him into going out with us yesterday. It actually went a lot better than I thought it would considering Ron kept trying to get under his skin.”

            “He’s living with you?! Why?! Was it Dumbledore?”

            “No, it doesn’t have anything to do with Dumbledore or the Order. Sorry, but I can’t tell you why he’s staying with us. I just don’t want to risk getting him mad at me when I’m trying to put this stupid rivalry behind us and start over with him.”

            Ginny arched a brow in surprise. “…You’re kidding, right?”

            “No. I’m tired of fighting with him all the time when I don’t even know why we’re fighting half the time. Yeah, he’s a dick sometimes, but who isn’t? Hell, Ron was such an ass fourth year I didn’t think I’d ever be able to even look at him again without wanting to punch him in the face, but I gave him a second chance so why shouldn’t I do the same with Draco?”

            “I guess you have a point… Still weird though, but if it actually pays off and makes him stop being such an arse to all of us then you won’t hear me complaining. All I can really say is good luck with that.”

            “Thanks, Gin.”

            “Ginny, breakfast is ready. Go get the others and wash up,” Molly said as she made her way into the living room, pausing when she noticed who else was in there with her daughter. A warm smile came to her face as she made her way over to the boy. “Harry! So good to see you, dear,” she said as she pulled him into a tight hug and placed a kiss to his cheek.

            “Hello, Mum,” Harry greeted, as was his usual greeting since it had first slipped out a couple of years back and the woman shushed him when he’d tried to apologize for it.

            “I was a bit worried when you didn’t come over last night like you’d planned. I thought maybe you’d all just gotten back late, but when I ran into Hermione in the hallway she said it was just her and Ronald and that you decided not to come over,” Molly said as she motioned the boy into the kitchen so he could wash his hands and she could set out a plate for him.

            “Sorry I worried you. I just didn’t know if it would be a good idea since Draco’s been staying at Grimmauld Place with us for the past week and I never exactly got around to telling him about Lupin’s condition. I just didn’t want to risk him maybe hearing something in the basement and going down there and getting himself hurt if he wasn’t careful. And I didn’t really think it would be ok to bring him here without asking you first, or if he’d even want to come over.”

            Molly’s brows rose in surprise. “The Malfoy boy’s been staying at Grimmauld? Fred and George told us they saw him with you three yesterday, but from what all you children have said about the way he behaves around you I just assumed they had to have been mistaken.”

            “No, he was with us. I managed to convince him to go out with all of us.”

            Before Molly could ask why Draco was staying with him and his godparents everyone began piling into the kitchen for breakfast and stole Harry’s attention, so she decided to just let it drop and started passing around the food.

            After breakfast was over Fred and George headed to Diagon Alley to open their shop, and Molly left the dishes to Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione while she made her way around the house to clean, and Harry waited until he heard Molly head upstairs before he finally dared to ask how Ron was feeling this morning after all the drinks he had at the club.

            “Pretty good. I know Fred and George have been trying to create a hangover potion to add to their shop, so after I woke up I asked if I could test it out for them. I figured if it didn’t work I could always tell Mum I tried a new batch of sweets they were making that didn’t sit right with me, and if it worked I wouldn’t have to worry about it. Obviously it seems like they got it right since it worked, but those jerks actually said that one was free ‘cause they needed someone to test it. They said if I ever need another one I’ll actually have to buy it from them now that they know it works. Can you believe that?”

            “That sucks. If it makes you feel any better Sirius said my dad came up with a hangover spell when they were all still at Hogwarts but Lupin won’t let him give it to me since he thinks we should deal with the consequences if we overdo it.”

            “That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better, mate. That just means I’ll have to buy potions from Fred and George for sure instead of telling them where to shove it.”

            “Or you could just do like me, Ginny and Harry and stop drinking before you get so smashed you can’t even see straight,” Hermione offered.

            Ron snorted. “Where’s the fun in that?”

            “Actually, Sirius did give me a muggle remedy for hangovers. He said he didn’t think Lupin would mind as much about that since it’s not as fast as Dad’s spell, and he thought it was only fair since my mum’s the one that told them about it before they even had a spell.”

            “Really? How good does it work?” Ginny asked curiously.

            “Uh, I don’t really know yet. I’ll have to ask Draco when I get home,” Harry said thoughtfully, though that was assuming the other teen would even talk to him.

            Ron paused for a moment at that before he remembered why his friend just used Malfoy’s name and said something about seeing him at home. “Blimey, I forgot the ferret’s staying with you.”

            “How is he anyway?” Hermione asked curiously. “Or I suppose a better question would be to ask just how much he remembers of last night,” she said while giving Harry a pointed look.

            Ginny arched a brow in curiosity at that while Ron furrowed his brows in confusion. “You make it sound like something happened,” she noted.

            “Oh, bloody hell, don’t tell me I missed seeing Malfoy embarrassing himself,” Ron muttered with a frown, growing more confused when he noticed Harry turn away from Hermione and it looked as though his face was getting red for some reason.

            “I’m pretty sure he remembers…” Harry mumbled as he kept his gaze on the plate he was drying.

            “…That’s the real reason you decided to pop in for a visit even though you didn’t want to come over yesterday because you didn’t want to leave Malfoy alone with Sirius and Lupin, isn’t it?” Hermione guessed, taking it as a confirmation when Harry’s face flushed a bright red.

            “What? Of course not. I wanted to check in and see how Ron was doing. Besides, he was feeling pretty rough and said he was probably going to go back to sleep after he ate what all Sirius told me to fix him, so it’s not like he has to feel weird being there alone with them. And I wasn’t planning on staying here all day or anything, so yeah…”

            Hermione dropped her drying towel and crossed her arms as she gave him another look. “You’re a terrible liar,” she said simply, shaking her head as she resumed helping him dry dishes when she realized she wasn’t going to get him to talk about it any time soon.

            Ron frowned as he looked between his friends, trying and failing to think of what the hell they were talking about. “…Why do I feel like I’m missing something here?”

            Ginny snorted. “You’re not the only one,” she muttered, wondering what could’ve happened since it was obvious whatever happened with Malfoy involved Harry somehow.


	8. Chapter 8

            Draco let out a frustrated sigh as he turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He didn’t know how long he’d tossed and turned after Harry left and he finished the breakfast the Gryffindor fixed for him. He’d thought for sure he’d be able to get some sleep since the food and tea had actually managed to settle his stomach and the icepack had helped get rid of his splitting headache, but he’d been unable to do anything but lay there and think about what the other teen had asked before he left.

            When he thought about it he could admit he was being a little harsh earlier when Harry had only seemed like he wanted to help, so was it really because he remembered the kiss that he’d gotten so snippy? After all, it was true that the day before had been going well up to that point, and Draco had found himself opening up a little whenever he and the brunette would talk.

            Obviously the more he thought on the question the more it just had him thinking back to the night before, and after his headache had cleared up everything had sort of rushed back to him all at once. Now he found his mind even more restless as the events of what happened after they returned home and Harry helped him upstairs seemed to be stuck on an endless loop in his head.

            He’d been the one to convince the other teen to stay with him, and he was the one that had started the kisses up again. Hell, he’d even tried to get Harry’s pants open at one point but was so drunk his fingers fumbled with the button long enough for Harry to grab his wrists and pin them up above his head. Normally just the thought of something like that would have caused him to start panicking anymore, but the memory of those fingers sliding down along his arms because Harry had obviously trusted him to keep his hands where he put them was sending a pleasant shiver down his spine.

            And then when Draco had been unable to keep his hands away any longer Harry had seemed ok with him touching him and sliding his hands up under his shirt as long as his hands stayed above his waist.

            Draco sucked in a sharp breath when he remembered the way the other boy’s hand ghosted over his stomach, and he could feel that same flutter he’d had from it the night before stirring up again just from the memory. He tried to push the memories away, but the harder he tried the more he could almost feel those warm hands caressing his body and those soft lips trailing down his neck, and most prominent in his mind was probably the strong arms wrapped around his waist and holding him close once he’d started drifting to sleep.

            He couldn’t let that happen again, even if his lips tingled at the thought of being kissed like that again. Maybe if things had been different, if he and the Gryffindor had tried to put their differences behind them ages ago and something like that had happened he would think about just letting things continue if they were going to just to see where it would go from there, but now?

            Draco was marked, tainted… Even the thoughts of what happened between him and Harry the night before were followed close behind by other memories he wished he could cast away. For crying out loud, he hadn’t even been able to keep from snapping at the other teen long enough for them to at least continue the fragile friendliness they’d managed to come to the day before, and all because he’d remembered the kiss at the club and saw Harry staring at his lips! Sure, he could let himself remember it now…but if the brunette were in front of him and tried to do something or even talk about it out loud, he felt his stomach tie itself into knots at the thought of what his natural reaction might be when he always had his guard up around other people.

            He angrily wiped at the hot tears he felt streaming down his face, and he let out another frustrated sigh as he finally stopped trying to clear his mind to sleep and simply got up and made his way into the bathroom.

            A hot shower helped him feel a little better, though not by much, and once he was out and dressed he made his way downstairs to try and find something to do to at least distract him from his racing thoughts. He was just glad that when he made it down into the living room it didn’t look as though Harry was around, so hopefully that meant the Gryffindor was up in his room or something and he wouldn’t have to worry about running into him any time soon.

            Eventually he found himself in the library scanning the bookshelves for something to read, and once he finally decided on something he started a fire in the fireplace to warm the room up a bit and made his way over to the comfy looking chair in the corner of the room and curled up and tried to focus on his book.

            The Slytherin wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he couldn’t focus anymore, and when he realized he’d been on the same sentence for the last twenty minutes he finally gave up and let the book rest on his chest as he turned to stare into the flames dancing in the fireplace as his thoughts began running away with him once again.

            It was times like this he wished he had someone he could talk to and confide in, but he didn’t have any friends he felt particularly close with at school. Almost everyone in Slytherin were backstabbing bastards that would jump at the chance to strike at the slightest sign of weakness. It wasn’t surprising though, not really. If being a Malfoy had taught him anything it was that you couldn’t trust anyone but yourself. Sadly, knowing that didn’t make it any easier for him to keep everything locked inside when all he really wanted to do was scream and let it all out to someone that might understand and be able to tell him what to do.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry was glad Hermione had stopped questioning him about Draco while they finished the dishes, and he was even more glad that Ron and Ginny hadn’t decided to probe more and instead started talking about which Quidditch teams they thought were going to make it to nationals this year. Even so, over the next few hours, he could see Hermione had that look on her face that said she wanted to get him alone and finish their earlier conversation, and when she managed to almost corner him on his way out of the bathroom at one point he decided he should head home before she actually managed to pull him aside to talk.

            Normally he wouldn’t have minded talking to Hermione since she usually gave good advice, but he didn’t want to talk about it. It was just a stupid drunken mistake that Harry, being the more sober of the two of them, shouldn’t have allowed to happen in the first place. So there was really nothing to talk or think about, especially when it was made perfectly clear Draco wanted them to forget all about it.

            “Hey, guys, I’m heading home,” Harry informed everyone, not failing to notice the frown that brought to Hermione’s face.

            “Do you really gotta go already?” Ginny asked with a pout.

            “Yeah, you sure you don’t wanna stick around? Mum just said she’s about to start lunch,” Ron added as he started dealing the cards for another round of Exploding Snap.

            “Yeah, I should get back. I already stayed longer than I thought I would, and since Lupin might not be feeling up to it I thought I’d make lunch for everyone so Sirius doesn’t have to watch Kreacher cook.”

            “Is he still going on about that elf trying to poison you lot?” Ron asked curiously.

            “Yeah. Personally I don’t think Kreacher would go that far though, even if he does still insult all of us and complain about us under his breath.”

            “What made him think Kreacher was trying to poison food anyways?” Hermione finally spoke up.

            “It was because the last time Kreacher made dinner by himself Sirius thought it tasted funny, though Lupin tried it and said it just tasted like there was some kind of pepper Sirius hates in his food. He figured it was ‘cause Sirius caught Kreacher with more stolen Black heirlooms and he took them back and threw them away.”

            “That’s awful,” Hermione said with a frown, wanting to go back to Grimmauld Place with Harry just so she could knock some sense into that stubborn man for the way he kept treating his house elf; it was no wonder the poor thing was so bitter and cold towards everyone, especially with Lupin and Harry there and letting Sirius continue to treat Kreacher however he felt like.

            “Yeah, well, Lupin made sure it wouldn’t happen again. I still don’t know what he said to him, but ever since Lupin talked to him Sirius actually ignores it when he hears Kreacher mumbling rude comments. And he’s been helping me and Lupin clean out one of the smaller rooms and fix it up so we can give it to Kreacher when we’re done. Lupin’s still trying to find some of the things Sirius threw out since me and him both think it might make Kreacher a little happier, but at the rate we’re going we should have it finished up for him in another week or so.”

            Harry grinned when Ron asked why they’d want to do that for an elf as mean as Kreacher and Hermione immediately started to get into one of her passionate speeches about how a house elf’s attitude corresponded with the way they were treated, and that more witches and wizards should do nice things like what he and Lupin were doing to try and make their house elves happy.

            He waved bye to Ginny before he took the opportunity to slip away while Hermione was too distracted to try and stop him, and he let out a relieved sigh when he made it back home. He was wondering who he should check on first since he was curious as to how Lupin was feeling, but at the same time he was curious as to whether or not the hangover cure he fixed up for Draco worked at all.

            Before he could decide if he even wanted to risk checking on the Slytherin and have him being a dick the whole time he noticed said Slytherin asleep in one of the arm chairs with a book lying open on his chest, one of his arms hanging off into the floor and the other resting above his head while his legs rested over the other arm of the chair. Sadly, he didn’t look very peaceful like he had the night before when he’d passed out on him. Instead he had a troubled look on his face as he mumbled under his breath.

            He moved closer without a thought when Draco started to become a little more restless, and he reached out and lightly nudged his shoulder to wake him before whatever it was he was dreaming about could get any worse. “Draco,” he called lightly, frowning when he felt him tense under his touch.

            “Draco, hey, wake up,” he called a little louder.

            Draco gasped and his eyes flew open as he shot up in his seat. His heart was racing in his chest and he could still feel that icy grip on his shoulder, could still feel his arm burning where the Dark Mark was branded into his flesh, could still see the happy look on his mother’s face as she told the Dark Lord how honored they both were that he’d chosen Draco to join his Death Eaters and was giving them both the chance to be useful to him while Lucius was gone.

            He sucked in a deep breath and tried to fight back the bile he felt rising in his throat, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

            “Whoa, hey, are you ok?” Harry asked with concern.

            “Merlin’s beard, Potter, are you trying to give me a bloody heart attack?!” Draco snapped defensively to hide the fear and disgust he was still feeling.

            “Sorry. I just got back and wanted to see if you were feeling any better,” Harry told him, deciding not to tell him he’d woken him because it looked like he was having some kind of nightmare since Draco had put up his usual angry mask rather fast after he realized Harry was there.

            “I’m fine.”

            “So did that hangover breakfast work for you then?”

            Draco frowned at the friendly smile the brunette was giving him, part of him wishing he’d just go away and leave him alone already while another part of him was a little relieved he was still talking so he could forget about what he’d just been dreaming about. “Obviously.”

            “Was it pretty fast or did it take a while? I’m just asking ‘cause I promised Ron I’d let him know how well it actually works.”

            “Uh, it wasn’t instant or anything, but it didn’t take too long for me to stop feeling so sick. The icepack helped with my head pretty fast though.”

            “That’s good. Ron will be happy to hear that.”

            “The weasel’s having a rough morning I take it,” Draco guessed with a smirk.

            Harry chuckled. “No, actually, he isn’t. Turns out Fred and George have been trying to come up with a hangover potion to add to their shop and Ron offered to test their latest attempt at one, and it worked.”

            The Slytherin furrowed his brows in confusion. “But then why would he care if your breakfast worked or not?”

            “Because his brothers told him that was the only freebie he was going to get now that they know it works, and he doesn’t want to have to buy a potion every time he wants to go out for a drink.”

            Draco arched a brow at that but didn’t bother to question why they’d make their brother pay instead of just letting him know the recipe for himself. After all, it wasn’t like he cared so what was the point in asking about it?

            “Anyways, I was about to go see if Lupin’s feeling any better, and then I was going to get started on lunch. Would you want to help?”

            “Why would I want to do that?”

            “Well, it’s something to do.”

            “And I know plenty of other things I could do instead. Besides, that’s what house elves are for.”

            “Yeah, well, I don’t mind Kreacher cooking but Sirius would freak if he knew I let him make anything for any of us without watching him. That and I’m used to cooking since I had to do it all the time for the Dursleys.”

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion since he didn’t recognize that name. “Who?”

            “So, want to give it a shot?” Harry continued as if Draco hadn’t said anything.

            The Slytherin thought about refusing, but it wasn’t like he wanted to try and read any more, and he really didn’t have anything else in mind that he could do at the moment regardless of what he’d just told Harry.

            “Whatever,” he finally said, picking his book up out of the floor and taking it back over to its shelf before he followed the Gryffindor out of the room.

            Harry led the way up to his godfathers’ room and knocked on the door, clearing his throat and calling Sirius’s name when he didn’t hear anything. He was about to knock again when he heard Lupin lightly calling for him to come in, and he made his way inside to see the man partially laying on a sleeping Sirius.

            “Harry. Draco,” Remus greeted with a small smile.

            “Hey. How are you feeling?”

            “Tired.”

            Harry winced. “Sorry. I probably woke you didn’t I?”

            Remus laughed softly. “It’s quite alright. I’ve been in and out all morning. Did you boys need something?”

            “I was just wanting to see how you were feeling. And I wanted to know if you and Sirius were hungry since we were just about to start lunch.”

            Remus arched a brow in surprise as he looked to the blonde leaning against the doorframe, though Draco didn’t look as though he was paying much attention. He had a look on his face that said he was a million miles away at the moment and letting his thoughts run away with him, and he’d seen that haunted look in the mirror enough times to know that whatever he was thinking about wasn’t too pleasant. He could understand him wanting to try and distract himself when it was obvious he was having trouble clearing his mind.

            “I am a little hungry, and Sirius was more concerned about feeding me than himself this morning so he’s probably going to be hungry by the time you have lunch ready. Just come get us when it’s done, or have Kreacher get us, and we’ll be down.”

            “You sure? I could send something up to you instead,” Harry offered.

            “I’m sure. I need to stretch a bit anyways, I’m just too lazy to do that at the moment since Sirius makes a rather comfortable pillow.”

            Harry chuckled as he watched the man’s eyes slip closed, and he quietly closed the door as he backed out of the room.

            Draco somehow managed to clear his thoughts a bit as he followed Harry down to the kitchen, and he washed his hands when told to do so as he watched the other teen make his way over to the fridge to start collecting ingredients. “So what are we making?”

            “A stir-fry. Why don’t you get started chopping the vegetables while I take care of the chicken?” Harry suggested, pausing when he noticed the Slytherin bring out his wand. “What are you doing?”

            “You just said you wanted me to chop the vegetables.”

            “Yeah, but why do you have your wand out?”

            “A chopping spell, duh.”

            Harry reached out and snatched the wand, ignoring his protests as he did so. “First off, if you use magic it’ll take all the fun out of it.”

            “What’s so fun about risking cutting your fingers off?” Draco grumbled.

            “Secondly,” Harry continued, “we’re not allowed to use magic outside of school until we’re seventeen.”

            Draco snorted. “You still believe that rubbish?”

            “Considering I had a hearing at the ministry just last year because I fended off a Dementor, yeah, I do.”

            Draco furrowed his brows in confusion at that. “Why would they bring you in for a hearing then-it’s not a crime to defend yourself.”

            “They thought I performed a patronus in front of a muggle without good reason because they didn’t believe I was attacked,” Harry explained as he handed Draco a knife.

            The blonde frowned as he took the utensil and turned to the cutting board to carefully start cutting up the vegetables. “Guess it makes sense considering how crazy Fudge was last year. But you can actually do magic outside of school, they just tell you that you can’t so they don’t have to worry about all the mud-” he cut off when he noticed Harry glaring at him, “er, muggleborns using magic when they don’t have magical parents to keep them under control. You’re allowed to use magic even when you’re underage as long as you’re in a wizarding household and around wizards or witches that aren’t age-restricted like you are.

            You just can’t go around using magic outside of your house if you live in a muggle area and there are muggles around to see you. Other than that it doesn’t matter because your parents are the ones that are responsible for keeping you under control.”

            “Huh… I didn’t know that.”

            “That’s kind of the point. They don’t exactly like to make that fact known in case one of the muggleborns decides to try something at home that gets out of hand when they don’t have magical parents to stop it.”

            “Then how do you know about it?”

            “My father told me.”

            Harry snorted and muttered, “How do you know it’s true then,” before he could stop himself.

            Draco pressed his lips and shot the Gryffindor a glare at the comment. “Maybe because I’ve been using magic at home since I was five years old and I only got a warning from the ministry once when I tried a more powerful spell at home alone because my mother was out with a friend and my father was away on business!” he snapped.

            Harry winced, about to apologize until Draco suddenly started cursing and he looked to see he sliced his finger. “Whoa, hang on, I’ll see if we have any bandages left.”

            “Don’t bother,” Draco told him as he reached over into Harry’s pocket and took his wand back so he could use a quick healing spell. Once that was done he rinsed the blood off and shot another glare at the brunette. “That proof enough for you?”

            Harry frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… It’s just that…” he trailed off when he couldn’t seem to find the right words. _“Way to go, you stupid git. You just don’t know when to shut the hell up when things are actually going ok with you and him, do you?”_ he thought angrily to himself.

            Honestly, how was this fresh start with Draco supposed to work if every time he started making progress he did or said something stupid that immediately put them right back at square one?


	9. Chapter 9

            Remus hummed when he felt a calloused hand running up his back, and he smiled when he felt a kiss being pressed to his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Sirius smiling at him, and he didn’t even get the chance to ask what he was smiling about before he was being pulled into a soft kiss.

            He chuckled when the other man pulled back. “What was that for?”

            Sirius shrugged. “Just saying good morning.”

            “Pretty sure you already told me good morning when you brought breakfast up for me.”

            “Yes, and then we both more or less passed out, so I’m saying it again.”

            Remus let out a content sigh as his lover cupped his cheek, and he leaned into his touch as they shared a few more lazy kisses. “You know…as much as I’m enjoying this…if we don’t stop…we’re never going to get out of bed,” he muttered between kisses.

            “You won’t hear me complaining.”

            The werewolf chuckled as he brought his hands to his lover’s chest and lightly pushed to hold him off. “Yes, well, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry-”

            “Oh I’m hungry alright,” Sirius cut in, his eyes darkening in lust.

            “ **and** Harry and Draco should be finished with lunch soon,” Remus continued.

            Sirius blinked. “The little snake’s making lunch?”

            “With Harry, yes.”

            “I wouldn’t think he’d know how to cook.”

            “Yes, well, obviously that’s why Harry’s helping him. Either way, we should go ahead and get up and head downstairs.”

            “Or I could head down and bring something up for both of us.”

            Remus smiled as he leaned in and nuzzled along the other man’s jaw. “As much as I appreciate the offer, I do need to get up. You know as well as I do that if I get up and move around instead of just laying in bed all day it’ll help me feel better faster.”

            Sirius smirked as he moved to pin the wolf underneath him. “You know, if you’re looking for a bit of a workout, I’m more than willing to help you with that.”

            Remus laughed as he pushed against the other man’s chest to hold him off again. “You’re impossible.”

            “Ah, but that’s one of the things you love about me.”

            “True. But, really, I would like to get up and walk around for a bit. If I’m feeling up to it after lunch, we can come back up here and I’ll let you ravish me then. Sound fair to you?”

            The animagus hummed and gave a small shrug. “I guess I could live with that.”

            Remus smiled as he watched his lover get off the bed and head into the bathroom, and he lazily stretched before he got up and pulled on a shirt before he made his way downstairs. He arched a brow when he made his way into the kitchen and he noticed Harry and Draco both seemed rather tense, and he didn’t fail to notice the way they resolutely appeared to be trying to ignore each other when Draco made his way over to Harry and started scraping chopped vegetables into the frying pan.

            He couldn’t help but wonder what happened since they didn’t have this awkward air around them whenever they came up to ask him about lunch, and when he saw Harry reach out and grab the blonde’s arm he noticed Draco looked as though he was about to turn around and punch him, so he cleared his throat to get their attention. “Hello, boys.”

            Harry and Draco both jumped a bit at the sudden voice, and Draco gave him a small nod in acknowledgement before he made a quick escape from the kitchen.

            Harry sighed as he watched Draco leave before he offered a smile to his godfather. “Hey, Lupin. I thought you said you were too comfortable to get up any time soon.”

            “Yes, well, Sirius decided to wake up and keep me from falling back to sleep, so I thought I might as well go ahead and come down,” Remus explained as he made his way over to the cabinets to get what he needed to make himself some hot chocolate.

            “Where is Sirius?”

            “Bathroom. He should be down shortly. More importantly, what was that when I walked in?”

            The young wizard furrowed his brows in confusion. “What was what?”

            “You and Draco. You were both so tense I was surprised you weren’t firing hexes at each other,” Remus said simply, arching a brow when he noticed the boy wince. “Oh, Merlin, you two weren’t actually throwing hexes at each other were you?”

            “No, nothing like that,” Harry quickly assured him. “It was just, well… I said something stupid… **again**.”

            “And what was that?”

            Harry felt his cheeks heating up as he turned to focus on what he was cooking. “He was trying to use his wand at first to chop the vegetables and I said we’re not allowed to use magic outside of school until we’re seventeen, and he told me that wasn’t exactly true.”

            Remus furrowed his brows in confusion, not sure how that counted as something stupid since most underage witches and wizards didn’t know that. “It’s not entirely true, no, but I don’t see why that would lead to the two of you looking like you were trying your damnedest to ignore each other just now.”

            “It wasn’t because of that… It was because I asked how he knew that, and he told me his dad told him…and I might have asked how he could know it was the truth then without thinking about what I just said.”

            “Oh… Well, to be fair, you boys are still getting to know each other, and more or less learning how to speak to each other. Both of you are obviously used to giving snide comments whenever one of you says something because of how long you’ve been at odds with each other, are you not?” At the boy’s nod he continued, “Then it’s completely understandable that it would take a while for you to stop those comments from slipping out. I get you obviously upset him by more or less insulting his father, however deserving the insult may be, but I have no doubt you apologized so I’m sure he’ll get over it soon enough.”

            “Right…” Harry muttered softly, highly doubting that since it was starting to seem like things were never going to change between him and the Slytherin since he couldn’t keep from putting his foot in his mouth for even five minutes or doing something completely mental-like making out with him when he was freaking smashed.

            Remus offered a small smile as he gave the boy’s back a loving pat. “Try not to worry about it too much, Harry. Now, I’m going to walk around for a bit so tell Sirius not to worry when he comes down and doesn’t see me in here with you.”

            He waited for Harry to nod before he made his way out of the kitchen and started searching for Draco since he wanted to make sure he was alright as well. Thankfully the other boy hadn’t gone too far and he found him in the living room over at the grand piano idly running his fingers over the keys.

            “Do you play?”

            Draco jumped, internally cursing himself for letting the man startle him twice in the past ten minutes. “I used to… Not so much anymore,” he admitted, warily watching the man as he made his way over and took a seat next to him on the bench.

            “I’ve always wanted to learn myself, but I’ve never really had anyone to teach me.”

            “What about Black?”

            “He doesn’t know how to play either.”

            “Then why does he even have a piano?”

            “His mother played. With how he felt about his mother he thought about getting rid of it when we first started cleaning this place up, but he decided to keep it since it was still in great condition and Hermione loves to play whenever she’s here.”

            Draco nodded since he didn’t really have anything to say to that, though he found himself curious as to how well Granger could play and if that was something she’d also be able to best him at or if he’d actually have one up on her in the musical department.

            “Perhaps you could teach me sometime, if you wouldn’t mind.”

            The Slytherin blinked in surprise as he looked to the man. “What?”

            “I would ask Hermione, but she’s not here often enough to teach me. If you wouldn’t want to, however, that’s alright. I can always try to just figure it out for myself.”

            Draco frowned for a moment before he finally shrugged. “I suppose I could show you. It’s not like I have anything better to do with my time around here.”

            “That would be marvelous. I would appreciate it.”

            Remus was quiet after that as Draco tested each of the keys to make sure it was tuned properly, and he watched as he started to play a rather beautiful sounding piece. He waited until he appeared to be relaxed before he cleared his throat. “So, I heard Harry said something that upset you.”

            Draco just barely managed to keep from missing a note at the sudden comment, but he took a deep breath as he continued playing. “I’m not upset. I could care less what Potter says to me.”

            “And yet you seemed like you couldn’t get out of there fast enough when I walked in there.”

            “I was done with what he asked me to do, and since he didn’t say I needed to do anything else I didn’t see a point in me staying in there.”

            “Mmm-hmmm. And when you looked as though you were about to punch him?” At Draco’s silence he continued. “You know, you boys are never going to get anywhere if you keep letting what you say to each other take you two steps back.”

            Draco furrowed his brows as he tried to concentrate on what he was doing while listening to the man talk. “Meaning?”

            “Meaning things aren’t going to suddenly change between you both overnight, so you shouldn’t get so worked up when one of you says something out of reflex in response to something the other says. And, really, I don’t see why you were so upset about what he said when his comment was more directed towards your father and not you.”

            Draco paused in his playing and glared at the man. “Excuse me?”

            “I know he’s your father, but Lucius hasn’t exactly made the best impression on most people-and especially not Harry-so can you really blame him for letting that one slip when Lucius Malfoy isn’t exactly known to follow any rules other than his own?”

            Draco pressed his lips and looked back to the piano keys as he tried to resume the song. He knew Lupin was right, though he’d die before he ever admitted such a thing, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been hearing too much crap about his father lately from the Prophet, his mother, the Death Eaters staying at the manor, and even the Dark Lord himself. And hearing Harry of all people saying something about him as well when it only served to remind Draco about whose fault it was that he was in the situation he was in just set him off.

            “…But that’s not what’s bothering you about what he said, is it?” Remus asked after watching the boy for a few minutes.

            Draco tensed at that, wondering if Lupin was a skilled Legilimens and how he would’ve gotten past his Occlumency shields when Severus had trained him himself when the Dark Lord first returned in case some of his thoughts weren’t exactly safe to have around the madman.

            “If you want to talk about whatever it is I’d be more than happy to listen,” the werewolf offered.

            Hearing that had Draco sighing in relief to know his thoughts and memories were safe, though he rolled his eyes so hopefully the man would think it was from annoyance. “I don’t want or need to talk because there’s nothing to talk about. And even if there was, why the hell would I talk to you about it?”

            Remus ignored the aggressive tone since he was starting to realize he did that whenever he started getting defensive, something he found amusing since Sirius used to do that too when they were younger. “I just know that sometimes it helps to talk to someone. If you don’t have anyone you feel comfortable talking to, you could always do what I used to do before I met Sirius and was comfortable enough to talk to him about certain things.”

            “What’s that?”

            “I kept a journal. I bought one and spelled it so that I wouldn’t have to worry about running out of pages, and I had a password phrase so that I was the only one who could read it and another password phrase so it would go back to appearing as though it were blank to anyone else. And if someone tried to use magic to get it to reveal what was written in it all it would do is throw insults at whoever tried to force it to reveal what was written. After Sirius and I got closer I actually let him see it and he used my idea when he and James came up with an idea for a map they created so that no one outside of our group could use it.”

            Draco arched a brow at that. “I’ve never heard of a spell that can do that.”

            “Yes, well, I came up with quite a few spells you’ve most likely never heard of. If you think keeping a journal would be something you’d be interested in I could spell it for you, and then you could set your passwords so you would be the only one that knows how to see whatever you write.”

            The Slytherin gave up trying to play as he thought about the offer. He hadn’t thought of doing something like that before, but maybe it would help him clear some of his thoughts if he was to at least write them down since he couldn’t talk about them. He wasn’t sure how well it would work in keeping him from finally losing his temper with Harry and hexing him into next week, but he could at least give it a shot so he was less likely to do something that would inevitably get him thrown out so the Death Eaters could find him.

            “…Would you teach me the spells so I could cast them myself instead?”

            Remus nodded, finding it understandable he would be wary of trusting someone else to spell something for him when it was going to be something that would contain his private thoughts and feelings. “I could show you after lunch if you’d like. You’ll just have to find me a blank piece of parchment.”

            “Alright.”

            “Speaking of lunch, it smells like it’s done, so why don’t we go ahead and head to the dining room?” the wolf asked with a smile as he got to his feet.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            All throughout lunch Harry tried to think of what he could do to make up for pissing Draco off, though he wasn’t feeling very optimistic about anything he thought of whenever he caught the blonde’s eye at one point and offered a smile only to have the other teen glare at him.

            Even though he gave up when everyone was done eating and he still had no idea of how to break the ice, two hours later he found himself standing outside Draco’s room holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, caramel, chocolate sprinkles and a cherry and debating on whether he should even bother trying to talk to him or just leave.

            Naturally, being the Gryffindor he was, he ended up knocking before he could even finish thinking it through, and he nervously shifted from foot to foot as he heard footsteps approaching the door.

            Draco frowned when he opened his door and saw Harry shifting from foot to foot with a steaming mug in his hands.

            “Uh, hi,” Harry muttered, growing a little more nervous when Draco said nothing and just crossed his arms and arched a brow. “Right… Uh, I made you some hot chocolate,” he said stupidly as he held the mug out to him.

            Draco made no move to take the mug as he asked, “What makes you think I even like hot chocolate?” and he just barely managed to keep his lips from turning up in a smirk when he noticed a look of uncertainty cross the brunette’s face.

            “Uh…”

            “Hn. Eloquent as always, Potter,” Draco remarked sarcastically, unable to hold off the smirk any longer when he noticed a blush creeping onto the other teen’s cheeks.

            “Uhm, I was already making one for myself, so I thought maybe you’d like some too,” Harry lied. “We have tea if you’d want some of that instead.”

            As much as Draco would’ve loved to see what would happen if he said yes, he did actually love hot chocolate so he saw no point in letting it go to waste. It was because of this he reached out to accept the cup, feeling a jolt run up along his arm when their fingers brushed together.

            He felt his breath catch at the sensation since this was the first time Harry had touched him without him being distracted with other thoughts, and he didn’t like that it made him think of the day before when they’d been holding onto each other at the skating rink so he pulled his hand back as quickly as he could without spilling the hot drink.

            “Well, if that’s all…”

            Harry quickly reached out and placed a hand on the door when Draco tried to close it. “Wait, Draco. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry about what I said earlier.”

            “You already said you were sorry,” the Slytherin reminded him.

            “I know, but I felt like I should say it again.”

            “Ok,” Draco said simply, not really caring anymore since Lupin had been right that Harry’s comment had been reasonable but not going to outright tell him that either.

            Harry nervously began shifting about once again as he tried to think about what he should do or say now since the blonde was still staring at him. “So, uh, could we just…forget about everything and start over?”

            Draco arched a brow at that. “Again?”

            “Well, technically, we never officially started over. I just said I wanted to but you never actually agreed, so…” Harry trailed off uncertainly.

            The Slytherin was about to tell him they couldn’t just start over after all the crap they’d been through over the past six years, but he paused when he actually stopped to consider what could happen if he didn’t.

            He’d actually decided to try Lupin’s suggestion of writing down his thoughts and he’d been writing since the man taught him those spells after lunch, and already his mind felt clear enough for him to actually think about the situation he was in. He was more or less on the run from the Dark Lord now, and if he couldn’t at least try Harry might eventually decide he didn’t want to put up with him anymore and have Lupin and Black throw him out where the Death Eaters could get to him. If they’d even let him live when he knew where they were and the Dark Lord could torture him for Harry’s whereabouts.

            It was that sobering thought that had him realizing even if he didn’t see any way a fresh start between them would work it would be wise for him to at least try, even if he was already sure it was impossible.

            The silence was growing unbearably uncomfortable, so Harry was about to just tell him to forget what he said until Draco suddenly asked, “How?”

            “What?”

            The blonde rolled his eyes at the confused question. “I’m agreeing to give it a shot, so how do we do that?”

            Harry’s mouth dropped open at the Slytherin’s words, completely stunned for a moment since he hadn’t thought Draco would actually agree. He was brought back to himself when the other teen cleared his throat and gave him an expectant look. “Right. As of right now it’s a clean slate, so how about we start this off right?”

            Draco blinked when Harry suddenly held a hand out to him.

            “Hi. I’m Harry.”

            Draco honestly couldn’t say he’d ever found himself dumbfounded before, but as he stared at the hand being offered to him that was exactly what he felt. He hesitated for a moment, part of him wanting to refuse out of spite for the fact that Harry was the one that turned down his offer for a friendship when they first met, but that defeated the purpose of a do-over didn’t it? This was supposed to count as the starting point, so he had to make himself think of this as the very first time they were meeting.

            He nervously licked his lips and reached out to shake the brunette’s hand. “Draco,” he muttered, his hand tingling as the other teen slightly tightened his grip.

            “It’s nice to meet you, Draco.”

            The Slytherin felt his cheeks heating up at the warm smile he was receiving. “You too…Harry.”


	10. Chapter 10

            The past few days had gone by rather smoothly, though Harry suspected a lot of that was due to the fact that he hadn’t tried to really talk to Draco all that much in case he did or said something stupid that would once again set them back after they finally reached an agreement to start over. He wanted to talk to him, don’t get him wrong, but he wasn’t sure how he should go about it since part of him felt like this wasn’t going to work because they’d already spent too many years getting to know each other in a negative way. But at least any time he and Draco did happen to get around one another and talk it had gone fairly well, though that was probably because they weren’t very long conversations and neither one of them had a chance to say something to piss the other off.

            He kind of wanted to call Hermione and ask her what he should do, but at the same time he was still trying to avoid having a conversation with her because he didn’t want to talk about what happened between him and Draco at the club. He knew Sirius wouldn’t be any help considering how obvious he made it that he still didn’t like the fact that Draco was there when he had that mark on his arm, and it didn’t help that Draco still wouldn’t tell them why he was in the state he was in when Harry found him.

            So he’d been careful and not really talked with the Slytherin too much if he could help it, but he knew they couldn’t go on like that forever if they really wanted to give this fresh start a shot. It was because of this he wondered if maybe he should see if his friends maybe wanted to hang out so it would be easier for him to talk to Draco since it had helped keep him from being so nervous when they went out with Ron and Hermione before. The only problem with that was that he didn’t want to give Hermione the chance to finally ask him about the club, and he kind of wanted to spend some time with Draco alone so they could try and get to know each other without Ron purposely trying to set the blonde off.

            Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he heard someone clearing their throat, and he looked to see Lupin smiling at him. “Sorry, what?”

            “I said, you look like you could use a break.”

            “I’m fine.”

            Remus chuckled. “Yes. Clearly that’s why you’ve been dusting that same spot for the past ten minutes.”

            Harry felt his cheeks heating up to hear that, and he quickly moved away from the shelf. “I am fine… I just got a little lost in thought is all.”

            “I can see that,” Remus said thoughtfully, watching the boy closely for a moment as he finished filling up the shelf with what Black heirlooms Sirius was able to track down. “You know, Draco’s seemed a little restless theses past few days, and you haven’t seemed much better,” he finally hinted.

            When he noticed the confused look on Harry’s face he gave a small smile and shook his head. “There’s only a few more things to do before the room’s ready to give to Kreacher, so I don’t mind finishing up. Why don’t you and Draco step out for some fresh air? Neither of you have been out of the house since you last saw Ron and Hermione, and even Sirius and I have been out since then. Besides, it might be good to get him out of the house for a while today. The Order’s meeting later today and Sirius and I have to tell the others about Draco being here, and that he has the Dark Mark.”

            Harry furrowed his brows in confusion at that. “But I thought you and Sirius would’ve told Dumbledore he was here the night I brought him here.”

            “I sent him a letter the next morning when I was sure Draco would be staying, yes, but he’s been rather busy recently and just got around to sending back an owl this morning. He said he was already needing to call a meeting so I could tell him more about Draco then, and I assume he won’t be the only one that has something to say about the boy being here once they hear he has the mark.”

            “Do you have to tell everyone? I mean, it’s not like he wanted it.”

            “You know I have to tell them, Harry. As much as I believe he obviously didn’t want that mark, Sirius still believes it’s possible that he might actually have been ordered to find you. The only way we’re going to know that for sure or not is what Severus has to say about it when he gets here. Depending on what he has to say about what he knows of Draco getting the mark we’ll decide what to do from there.”

            “What do you mean? What are you going to do to him?” Harry asked worriedly.

            “Don’t fret, Harry. I doubt we have anything to worry about, so go on and get out of here. Go have some fun and I’ll tell you about the meeting when you get back.”

            Harry frowned, part of him wanting to stay for the meeting but knowing the reason Lupin was suggesting he get Draco out of the house was because it would be a good idea to keep the Slytherin from knowing about the Order of the Phoenix until they all decided whether or not he could be trusted to even be in the same building as them when they were having their meetings. “Yeah, ok… Where should we go though? I know your meetings can take a long time sometimes, and I don’t know what we could do for that long.”

            Remus shrugged. “Well, what does he like to do?”

            Harry felt himself blush at the question. “Uh, I don’t really know…”

            The wolf arched a brow in surprise. “Really? He’s been here for almost two weeks and you still don’t know any of his interests?”

            The teen’s blush darkened and he nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “We haven’t really talked all that much…”

            “You boys seem like you’ve been getting along recently, and I’ve seen you talking more than once without one of you looking like you’re thinking about hexing the other, so why wouldn’t you be asking him about himself?”

            “I don’t know, I just… It’s hard for me to think of things to talk about when I don’t know what might piss him off and send us right back to where we were when he first got here.”

            Remus nodded in understanding. “I see… It can be hard trying to go from thinking of each other as enemies, and I can tell you that from experience because I wasn’t always friends with James and Sirius. I used to hate them when I first met them, but obviously we managed to work out our differences.”

            Harry blinked in surprise. “You used to hate them?”

            “It’s a long story. The point is we eventually reached a point of understanding that they were to leave me and Peter alone, and obviously Sirius decided he didn’t want to do that. Luckily he stopped doing things that made me want to strangle him, but he didn’t stop talking to me just because he knew I was still angry at him and James. If he hadn’t ever tried to talk to me then we never would’ve gotten to know each other, and we never would’ve gotten together because I wouldn’t have known he really wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. And I still might not have liked James all that much when me and Sirius first started getting close, but since the two of them were thick as thieves I had to get used to him too and we all ended up being the best of friends.

            So, you see, it’s understandable that you’re worried about saying something that might make Draco angry, but you’ll never get anywhere if you squander this opportunity to put your differences behind you by tiptoeing around each other all summer. After all, if you don’t start now, you probably won’t get the chance when you boys return to school because he won’t see a reason to hang around you and your friends when you’re not his friend.”

            Harry slowly nodded as he thought about what the man said. “So what should I do?”

            “If you don’t know any of his likes or dislikes then maybe you should suggest taking a walk to get out of the house for a little while, and the two of you can talk and find something to do while you’re out,” Remus suggested thoughtfully.

            “Right… Ok… Uh, you sure you don’t want me to help you finish the room first?”

            Remus chuckled at the boy’s obvious nervousness, and he shook his head. It was just amusing to know all Harry had faced over the years-including two separate face-to-face encounters with Voldemort himself, and a run-in with a group of his Death Eaters just a few months ago at the ministry-and yet the thought of going out with Draco and getting to know him was the thing that made him nervous.

            “There’s not much left to do, Harry. I’m more than capable of finishing up myself, so go on,” he encouraged, smiling when the boy finally turned to leave the room.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Harry found Draco in the living room playing the piano, which had become rather expected over the past few days, and he hesitated and only made his way over when the song ended. “Uh, hey.”

            Draco turned at the sound of the voice and self-consciously unrolled his sleeves and pulled them down to hide the Dark Mark as he gave a small nod in acknowledgement.

            “You know you don’t have to do that,” Harry assured him since it was a bit warm in the house, and it wasn’t like he didn’t already know it was there anyways.

            The blonde ignored him and simply asked, “What do you want?”

            Harry let out a soft sigh at the subject change, but he supposed he could understand him being uncomfortable having others see the mark when it was clear he could barely stand to acknowledge it was there himself, and he offered a soft smile as he motioned towards the front hallway. “I was actually thinking about going for a walk to get some fresh air, and I was wondering if maybe you’d want to go with me.”

            Draco was thrown off by the sudden question since he and Harry hadn’t exactly been jumping at the chance to hang out after they had their agreement to try and start over, so naturally he couldn’t help but think the Gryffindor was obviously up to something. “Why would I want to do that?”

            “Uh, well, you know, just to get out of the house for a while? We don’t have to take a long walk, and we could find something to do while we’re out if you’d want.”

            “Like what?” Draco asked warily, his mind immediately going to the skating rink and the club.

            “I don’t know…” Harry muttered, blinking when he remembered Draco saying something before about flying. “We could go flying if you’d want. I mean, I don’t have a snitch or anything, but we could still race or something.”

            “I thought you and Granger said we couldn’t do that because of all the muggles.”

            “Yeah, and you told us to go somewhere we could fly. Obviously Ron and ‘Mione were more in the mood to go skating so that’s why we didn’t go, but there is somewhere we could go if you really wanted.”

            Draco perked up a bit at the news. “I guess I wouldn’t be too opposed to that,” he said idly as he slowly got to his feet, not wanting to make himself look like a fool by getting excited at the prospect of getting out of this dreary place and doing something fun that he was actually comfortable with.

            Harry gave a relieved smile. “Great. If there’s anything else you’d want to do then feel free to suggest something.”

            Draco said nothing and merely waited as Harry summoned Kreacher and asked him to get them their brooms, and he curiously arched a brow as he watched him pull something out of his pocket and unfold it. He blinked when he noticed it appeared to be a rather sizable pouch, and he was about to ask what he had that out for, though he was utterly confused when the brunette held it out to him.

            “Mind holding that open for a minute? It’ll be hard to do this one-handed.”

            “Do what one-handed?” Draco asked curiously even as he did as he was asked and held the pouch open.

            When he saw the other teen pick up his Firebolt and hold it up to the opening he was about to ask if he’d gone completely batshit, so he was struck speechless when the broom disappeared into the pouch.

            When Harry was done storing his and Draco’s brooms he took the pouch back and folded it up and returned it to his pocket, and at the blonde’s dumbfounded look he explained, “Undetectable Extension Charm. Hermione taught it to me last year when we were at school and I asked her how she was able to fit so many books in her bag and still be able to carry it around.”

            “Why’d you need a charm like that?” Draco couldn’t help but ask as he followed Harry out of the house, his eyes instinctively darting around to make sure there weren’t any Death Eaters around.

            Harry shrugged. “I thought it was pretty brilliant, and it’s actually come in handy even though we’re not at school anymore. I’ve got a couple of books in there, a bag of galleons, a clip of muggle money, a two-way mirror, a map, my invisibility cloak, and now our brooms.”

            The Slytherin froze and looked to the other teen in shock. “Did you just say you have an invisibility cloak?”

            “Yeah. I got it my first year at Hogwarts for Christmas from Dumbledore. He said my father left it to him before he died and he thought it was time to give it back.”

            Draco gave a small laugh in disbelief. “Well that actually explains a lot. No wonder you just seemed to disappear at times last year when I was following you around.”

            Harry arched a brow at that. “You were following me?” he asked in surprise, unable to help but find it cute when he noticed a light blush creeping up on the other teen’s face.

            “Well, I was made a prefect last year if you don’t remember, so I would’ve loved to catch you doing something I could give you detention for. Not to forget I was also part of Umbridge’s Inquisitorial Squad and you were considered the main person of interest Umbridge wanted us to keep an eye on.”

            The Gryffindor snorted. “Yeah, bet you loved that. You were happy enough when you found my defense class.”

            “Are you kidding me? I know it’s hard to believe for someone like you, but not everyone wants to go out of their way to know what you’re up to every minute of every day. If you must know, the only reason I became a member of her little squad is because that woman was madder than a hatter. If you weren’t a part of her squad then in her mind you were up to no good and she had to find out what you were plotting and put a stop to it.”

            As much as Harry wanted to ask what exactly he meant by his ‘someone like you’ comment, he had a feeling if he did that things might go downhill fast so he just took a deep breath and ignored it as Draco continued.

            “The only reason I was glad we finally found out about your meetings was because I thought that might **finally** get her to shut the hell up about what you could possibly be up to. And she did for a little while since she was sure we put a stop to your meetings or whatever, but then when we found you in her office I just knew it wasn’t going to end well. And what she was about to do to you? If Granger hadn’t stopped her I already had my hand on my wand and was ready to disarm her.”

            Harry was completely floored by the admission and couldn’t look away from the blonde, and he would’ve run into a light post if Draco hadn’t grabbed his arm and moved him out of the way. “You were really going to disarm her?”

            “Of course I was-she was about to use the Cruciatus on you. I might not have liked you, but come on. That was completely mental of her to want to use an unforgivable on you just because you were trying to floo someone, and that look she had in her eyes when she pointed her wand at you told me she wouldn’t have stopped once she started even if you had told her what she obviously wanted to hear. But then Granger piped up, and when I saw she was clearly faking it when she started crying I knew she was up to something. It still makes me wish I could’ve gone with you when she took off with you and Granger for that so called weapon of Dumbledore’s.

            Which reminds me, what did you do to her anyways? The next time anyone heard anything about her after that it was because Peeves was cackling and going on about how he saw she was in the infirmary.”

            “Ok, so you know how Hagrid was gone for most of the year last year?” At the blonde’s nod he continued, “Apparently Dumbledore sent him to try and recruit the giants for the upcoming war, and he found out he had a brother. Well, he brought Grawp back with him and was keeping him in the forest and took me, Ron and Hermione to meet him. So Hermione had the idea to take Umbridge to him, and he scared her a bit but mostly it was the centaurs that helped us. She started getting nasty with them so they ended up roping her and dragging her off. I’m still not entirely sure what happened to her, but I can take a few guesses as to what might have happened.”

            Draco let out a sad sigh at the explanation. “Now I wish I was there even more. It would’ve been great to see the look on that hag’s face when she was dragged off.”

            “They probably would’ve gotten you too if you were there.”

            The Slytherin snorted. “Yeah right. I might love to throw insults at people, but even I’m not stupid enough to insult a centaur. And after they took off with her I would’ve just told you and Granger that I only came along for the show and then I would’ve went back to the castle.”

            “If we have another crazy defense teacher this year feel free to join us if we have to do something to run them off,” Harry offered.

            “Ooh, an offer to get up to no good with the golden trio so I won’t have to worry about getting in trouble afterwards. Now you’ve got me hoping this year will be as exciting as the rest of them have been for you just so I can see it myself firsthand.”

            Harry laughed. “Oh god, please don’t say that. I’d give anything for this year to be a boring normal year for once since there’s no telling how much longer the peace will last before Voldemort finally makes a move.”

            Draco winced. “Do you have to say his name?”

            “I’m not afraid of a name, Draco.”

            “Still…”

            “Fine, no more using the V word. Just so I don’t end up forgetting, how about we move on to another topic? Like what do you like to do for fun? Other than flying and playing the piano of course,” Harry said quickly to hopefully keep things from getting awkwardly quiet between them because they were talking about a sore subject.

            Draco was grateful for the quick change of subject, though he tried not to show it as he thought about the question. “I like to read, and sometimes I like to draw… I love wizard’s chess, and I’m currently undefeated by any of my fellow Slytherins so I’ve been thinking about competing in the next wizard’s chess tournament when school starts back. Uhm…let’s see… Oh, I used to write stories whenever I was really bored since I’ve never really cared for TV, but I haven’t done that in a long time.”

            “Really? Me too,” Harry said in awe, blushing a bit when Draco gave him a look that said he wanted him to elaborate. “I mean about the stories. I still sometimes do that. I do read too, just not all that much since I prefer TV and games. I can’t draw to save my life though, and I’m absolute rubbish at wizard’s chess even though Ron’s been trying to teach me since first year.”

            Harry felt his stomach flutter a bit when Draco actually laughed at that, and god that smile was so beautiful it should be illegal.

            “Weasley’s been teaching you how to play since first year and you **still** can’t play? The sad thing is I can’t even say anything about his skills at wizard’s chess since I know for a fact he’s been the reining tournament champion four years in a row, and probably would’ve won again last year if Umbridge hadn’t banned the tournament. If you’re so incompetent you still haven’t gotten the hang of it by now you might as well give up and stick to Quidditch since that’s something you seem to be rather amazing at.”

            “Did you just insult me and then compliment me in the same sentence?”

            “Maybe. It just so happens to be one of my many talents. It’s right up there with my wickedly cunning sarcasm and impeccable fashion sense.”

            “Fashion sense? What fashion sense? You could be wearing the ugliest sweater in the world and no one would notice if you flashed them a smile. That’s not you having an impeccable fashion sense, it’s just that no one can take their eyes off those gorgeous eyes or that perfect smile long enough to notice anything else,” Harry said truthfully, his cheeks heating up a bit when he realized how sappy that sounded.

            Draco blinked and looked to the other teen, and when he noticed a blush staining his cheeks he felt his stomach flutter at the realization he wasn’t joking. “Are you flirting with me?” he asked in surprise.

            Harry’s blush darkened as he brought a hand up and nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “N-No,” he stuttered, feeling his face growing that much hotter when he noticed the blonde’s disbelieving look. “Maybe… Do you want me to be?”

            Draco frowned in thought. Part of him was wanting to tell him no and to quit while he was ahead, though he couldn’t deny the part of him that was a glutton for compliments wanted it to continue if the Gryffindor kept saying things like that.

            “…I might not be entirely opposed to it if you are,” he finally muttered, unable to keep his lips from turning up in a smile when he noticed Harry giving him a shy smile of his own.


	11. Chapter 11

            Draco zipped past the Gryffindor at the last second and crossed the point they’d agreed would be their finish line, and he laughed when they brought their brooms to a halt and he noticed the shocked look on Harry’s face. “Don’t look so surprised. Just because I haven’t bested you at Quidditch just yet it doesn’t mean I’m not a fast flyer.”

            “I’m not really surprised about that, it’s more that I can’t see how you haven’t beaten me to the snitch before when you can fly like that.”

            “Yes, well, it’s a little more difficult to focus on being fast when you’re also dodging bludgers and teammates. That and the snitch is a tricky little bugger. And, unlike a certain Gryffindor I know, I’m not going to pull any type of crazy stunt that could land me in the hospital wing just to catch the damn thing.”

            Harry scoffed. “I don’t do that.”

            Draco smirked as he arched a brow at the other teen. “Oh really? So I guess I just imagined that first year, in your very first game, you stood up on your broom and did a front flip that damn near caused you to swallow the snitch.”

            Harry blushed at that. “Oh come on, you can’t count that. That was my first ever game of Quidditch so I wanted to win it for Gryffindor.”

            “Hey, I could let that one slide if it wasn’t for the fact that you only seemed to get even more reckless after that. I mean, for the final match of the season, you got pegged by a bludger and fell off your broom and only managed to catch the snitch because, by some miracle, one of your teammates was flying under you at the right moment and you landed on the back of their broom and managed to snag the snitch when it tried to pass them.

            Then there was all the crazy stunts you pulled during games in second year, one being that first game with Slytherin where you broke your arm.”

            “Hey, that one wasn’t my fault! One of the bludgers was cursed!”

            “Yes, and it was obvious something weird was going on with it since it wouldn’t stop following you, and yet you couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to it just because you wanted to beat me more than you wanted to be careful. And let’s not forget the fact that you jumped from your broom the very next game and broke your ankle.”

            “I didn’t think I was up as high as I actually was. I thought I’d be fine if I jumped, and I was for the most part.”

            “Except for a broken ankle.”

            Harry rolled his eyes. “I still won.”

            Draco snorted. “Yeah, and I’m sure that made your ankle feel so much better.”

            Harry laughed as he reached out to give the blonde a playful shove. “Oh shut up.”

            The Slytherin grinned. “Hey, I’m just saying. I might like to win, but even I don’t like to win that bad.”

            Harry shrugged. “What can I say? I can’t help it that I usually always act before I stop to think about something.”

            Draco snorted again. “Really? I can’t imagine why that is. I mean, it’s not like you’re a Gryffindor or anything.”

            Said Gryffindor smiled fondly as he shook his head. “Smartass.”

            “I try,” Draco admitted while Harry chuckled. “Anyways, you up for another race?”

            “Definitely. But, just so you know, there’s no way you’re winning this time.”

            “Oh we’ll see about that.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            They were on their third or fourth race through the forest when Draco made a sharp turn away from one of the trees, only for his heart to stop when he suddenly heard a crash and what sounded like several branches breaking behind him.

            “Harry?!” he called out worriedly as he made his way back over, his heart racing when he saw the Firebolt on one of the branches, and his stomach dropped when he realized that meant he was knocked off his broom.

            “Ugh… Up here.”

            Draco blinked and looked further up the tree only to have to cover his mouth, trying as hard as he could and failing not to laugh when he saw him since he was clearly ok. He had twigs sticking out of his hair, his glasses were crooked on his face, and he was hanging upside down from where one of his legs happened to catch on a branch so his shirt was bunched up around his neck and trying to slip off of him.

            “You know, a little help would be appreciated before my leg gets unstuck,” Harry muttered as he moved a hand to fix his glasses and start picking twigs out of his hair.

            The blonde grinned as he moved closer and offered a hand to help pull him up so he could grab onto the branch he was caught on before he dared to help him get his leg free. Once that was done he moved down to get his Firebolt and offered it to him with a soft smile. “So, I think we should probably just go ahead and call this race finished before you kill yourself.”

            “Hey, this was your fault. You could’ve given me a head’s up that there was a tree there,” Harry muttered as he followed Draco back to the beginning of the forest.

            “How could you not see it? You may have been behind me, but that tree was huge.”

            Harry felt a blush coming to his cheeks since he’d been more aware of the fact he had a rather great view of the Slytherin’s backside, and all he’d been able to notice was how low his jeans were riding on his hips. “Uh, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

            Draco snorted. “Obviously.”

            Harry winced when they landed and he hopped off his Firebolt since his leg was still a little sore from that run-in with the tree, though he didn’t really get to focus on the pain for long since he suddenly felt fingers in his hair, and he looked to Draco’s face just to see his cheeks tinted a light pink.

            “You missed a few,” the blonde muttered as he pulled a couple of sticks from Harry’s hair.

            “Thanks.”

            Draco nodded as he watched the other teen pull the pouch out of his pocket and open it up.

            “So, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Harry commented as Draco helped him put away their brooms. “What do you say we find a place to grab a bite, and then we can find something else to do.”

            “Sounds good to me,” Draco agreed.

            It was a little quiet after that as they walked, though it wasn’t uncomfortable. Draco seemed to be rather content and had an easy smile on his face, and it made Harry wish he could just stay right here in this moment forever. At the same time it made him worried about when he was going to say or do something to screw this day up, and it made him even more worried when he thought about what might happen whenever they finally headed back to Grimmauld Place.

            Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he suddenly tripped and found himself falling into Draco, and he felt an arm wrapping around his waist to steady him.

            “Watch it.”

            “Sorry. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

            “I noticed. I swear, sometimes I wonder how the hell you’re still alive when you’re so unobservant.”

            “You and me both,” Harry admitted with a chuckle. “I would say it’s luck, but if I was actually lucky then I wouldn’t get into situations where I could get myself killed in the first place.”

            “You know, I would say you have a point there, but most of the time it’s your own fault.”

            Harry hummed in thought. “That’s probably true… My curiosity sometimes gets the better of me, and that’s usually what tends to get me pulled into all the craziness that goes on at Hogwarts,” he admitted.

             Draco shook his head with a smile, though before he could say anything to that Harry suddenly stopped walking and made him realize he still had his arm around him. He felt his face flame as he quickly took his arm back, and he curiously looked to where Harry was pointing, just to furrow his brows when he noticed some kind of truck that appeared to be serving food while he heard the brunette saying, “Ooh, hey, look! I forgot they park there around this time of day. We’ve got to get something from them-I swear they have the best burgers in all of London.”

            The Slytherin made a face at that. “You don’t honestly expect me to eat something coming out of a dirty old truck, do you?”

            Harry rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a baby.”

            Draco blinked as his wrist was suddenly grabbed, and he grimaced as the other teen pulled him over to the food truck. He crossed his arms as they got in line, and he shot the brunette a glare as he watched him pull out his pouch and dig through it for some muggle money. “I am **not** eating anything that comes out of there. Find somewhere else, preferably someplace that can actually be deemed decent for a muggle establishment.”

            Harry arched a brow as he crossed his arms and stared the blonde down. “Well, excuse me, your highness, but the last time I checked I was the one paying for lunch. That means I have a say on where we grab something to eat, and I know for a fact the food they make is amazing. It won’t kill you to give it a try-”

            Draco snorted as he looked the truck over. “It might.”

            “and I’ll bet you’ll even end up liking it just as much as I do.”

            “Somehow I highly doubt that.”

            Harry rolled his eyes once again. “Would you quit complaining and figure out what you want before it’s our turn to order?”

            “You mean I actually get to decide on that instead of having you decide for me? That’s shocking.”

            The Gryffindor found himself rolling his eyes once more. “Merlin, I didn’t think it was possible, but you actually get even more snarky when you don’t get your way,” he muttered mostly to himself.

            “What was that?”

            “Nothing. Just give it a try before you decide it’s crap, and I promise you can pick where we go for dinner later, ok?”

            Draco frowned in thought, wanting to agree to that since that would insure they actually had a decent meal, but at the same time he wanted to protest since he knew there was no way he would like whatever food came from this dirty muggle truck so he’d have to wait until dinner before he got anything to eat.

            Since he figured it was better to just go with it so he’d at least be able to have one good meal today, he looked over the sign posted on the side of the truck and decided on what he wanted while they waited for the few muggles in front of them to get their orders.

            Once they finally got their food, Draco frowned as he stared down at the tinfoil wrapped around the burger. “I can’t believe I’m actually considering eating this…” he muttered as he followed Harry over to a bench and took a seat next to him.

            Harry chuckled as he watched Draco unwrap his burger as if he expected something was going to jump out and bite him, and he shook his head when he just stared at it as though he didn’t trust that it was fine even though it looked good. “You realize you’re being ridiculous, right?”

            “We got this from a dirty old truck and I’m the one being ridiculous?” Draco grumbled, frowning when he saw the smile the Gryffindor was giving him. “What?”

            “Just because it’s not some five star restaurant like you’re obviously used to it doesn’t mean it’s not just as good, Dray. What does it matter if it looks nice or not anyways? It’s the food that matters, not the look of the place that’s making the food.”

            “Maybe so, but who wants to get food from a place that looks as though it’s main customers are rats?”

            Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes once again. “It doesn’t look like that. Hell, that’s one of the nicer food trucks I’ve gotten something from. You should really see some of the other ones before you rip on that one.”

            “Is hearing that supposed to make me feel better about us buying food from there, because that’s really not as comforting as you seem to think it is.”

            “Would you just shut up and eat already before I throw you headfirst into the fountain?” Harry asked in exasperation.

            Draco let out an aggravated huff at that. “Fine, but when I die I’m haunting your ass, just so you know.”

            Harry grinned, just barely managing to hold back a laugh when Draco finally took a bite out of his burger and his eyes fluttered shut as he let out a moan. “You were saying?”

            “Oh my god! This is fucking amazing!” the Slytherin noted in shock.

            “I told you they had the best burgers in all of London. Maybe next time you’ll believe me when I pick somewhere to eat instead of complaining about how we should’ve gotten something from somewhere else.”

            Draco glared at the other teen when he noticed his smug look. “…Shut up.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            When they were done eating Draco wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do at the moment, or rather what they could do since they were in the muggle world, so they were currently taking a walk down one of the paths in the park while they took turns asking each other questions since Harry felt it would be a good way for them to get to know each other better. At first he’d been afraid it was some kind of trick and he was going to use it as an excuse to ask him about what happened the night he found him, but after several harmless little questions about some of his likes and dislikes he finally started to relax and found he was actually enjoying himself.

            “Let’s see… Favorite color.”

            Draco hummed in thought for a moment. “It’s kind of a tie between blue and black.”

            “Really?”

            Draco smiled. “Just because I’m a Slytherin it doesn’t automatically make silver or green my favorite colors. What about you?”

            “…Green.”

            The blonde blinked in surprise, thinking for a moment he misheard that. “I’m sorry, what?”

            Harry chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Don’t tell any of my fellow Gryffindors or they might disown me,” he joked.

            “If that’s the case then I bet you’d love the Slytherin common room and boys’ dorm.”

            “If the dorm’s as nice as your common room I’m sure I would.”

            Draco paused at that and gave the other teen a confused look. “How would you know what our common room looks like?” he couldn’t help but ask since he knew for a fact no one in Slytherin would date a Gryffindor with how bad the feud between their houses was.

            Harry grinned as he leaned against the railing of the bridge Draco had stopped on. “I was in there in second year. Me and Ron both were, actually.”

            “Bullshit.”

            “No, it’s true. In fact, you were the one that got us in.”

            Draco snorted. “Ok, now I know you’re full of it. I never would’ve let you into the common room, and even then you would’ve had a better shot of me letting you in than me letting in Weasley.”

            “Well, to be fair, we’d polyjuiced ourselves to look like Crabbe and Goyle.”

            “Are you serious? Where the hell did you even get a polyjuice potion?!”

            “Hermione made it for us. She was actually supposed to come with us, but she didn’t know it and she ended up getting a cat hair off of someone’s robe instead of their hair.”

            Draco was quiet for a moment as he processed that, and he finally shook his head with a small laugh. “Wow. That’s actually pretty impressive knowing a second year was able to make a potion like that… But why did you do it? I mean, what was the point in pretending to be Slytherins and getting into our common room?”

            “We all thought you might’ve been the heir of Slytherin and knew where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was. We figured we had a good chance of getting it out of you if we were polyjuiced so we could talk to you,” Harry admitted, blinking when the blonde suddenly burst out laughing.

            “Wow, that actually makes so much sense now. I thought Vince and Greg were acting really weird that night we were all talking about that. And then I thought for sure they’d lost it when they came back later that night and didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked why they ran out like their asses were on fire when we were in the middle of a conversation.”

            Harry laughed. “I can imagine.”

            “I can’t believe you actually thought **I** was the heir of Slytherin when you’re the one who can speak Parseltongue.”

            The brunette shrugged. “Well, you did make yourself look pretty suspicious with your whole ‘you’ll be next, mudbloods’ comment.”

            The smile slowly fell from Draco’s face as he gave a weary sigh and turned to lean against the rail and look out along the river. “It’s not like I was threatening anyone-I only said it because it was true.”

            “Yeah, well, how would we know that? You were a dick, and you’d already made it clear you had issues with muggleborns like Hermione. Why wouldn’t we think it was you that opened the chamber after you said that?” Harry pointed out.

            “…I don’t have issues with mud-muggleborns, and I never really have.”

            Harry couldn’t help but snort at that. “Could’ve fooled me.”

            Draco frowned as he thought about whether or not he actually wanted to explain why he’d been such an asshole to Granger ever since their second year, and he let out a soft sigh when he finally made up his mind. “I really don’t have anything against muggleborns, and I actually had a lot of respect for Granger in first year because she was the only one in our year that got higher marks than me in several of our classes even though she was a muggleborn… I never would’ve told her that even if she wasn’t friends with you and Weasley, but it’s true. I still sometimes feel that way, but then I remember what happened over the summer after first year and it makes me hate her,” he admitted softly.

            Harry furrowed his brows in confusion as he moved closer to the blonde. “Why? What happened?”

            “…My parents weren’t too happy with me when they found out I didn’t have the highest marks in all of my classes out of everyone in my year, but they were even less happy when they found out a mudblood was better than me in more than one of said classes. So I blamed Granger for them punishing me for that, and that’s why the first time she talked to me in second year I got pissed and called her a filthy mudblood… I still get pissed at her when I think about it, and it’s hard not to refer to her and others like her as mudbloods when that’s the term I got used to hearing, but I don’t have anything against muggleborns.”

            It was quiet for a moment while Harry processed what Draco just told him, and when he noticed how tense the other teen was and how he looked like he couldn’t believe he’d just admitted what he did, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching over and grabbing one of his hands to give it a comforting squeeze. He thought about saying something to that or even asking what exactly his parents did, but he could tell from the grip Draco had on his hand that he didn’t want to say anymore on the topic.

            “You want some ice cream? ‘Cause I’m craving something sweet like you wouldn’t believe, and there’s usually an ice cream vendor here in the park during the summer.”

            Draco was caught off guard by the sudden question, having been prepared for the Gryffindor to ask about what exactly his parents did to him to make him hate Granger so much or even have him tell him he thought he was full of shit, but he was extremely thankful for the subject change.

            He offered a small smile as he felt the other teen’s thumb lighting running over the back of his hand. “I could go for some ice cream.”

            “Yeah?”

            At Draco’s nod he laced their fingers together and led him off of the bridge. “Awesome. And, hey, there’s my next question.”

            “Hmm?”

            “Favorite ice cream,” he said simply, stomach fluttering when Draco gave a warm laugh and slightly tightened his grip on his hand as they walked.


	12. Chapter 12

            Draco hummed in thought as he and Harry ate their ice cream cones and slowly made their way out of the park. “I don’t know. I don’t really have a favorite song-there’s way too many that I like for me to be able to pick just one specifically.”

            “Ok, well, what about a band then? There’s got to be one you prefer over any others.”

            “I don’t know. Once again, it’s kind of hard for me to decide since I like a lot of songs from a lot of different bands.”

            “Isn’t there anyone you listen to more than anyone else? Or anyone whose songs you like more than anyone else’s?”

            “Mmm, ok, well…I think the band I listen to the most is probably Breaking Benjamin.”

            Harry arched a brow in surprise. “Really?”

            “Yeah. I haven’t heard a single song of theirs yet that I don’t like.”

            “I know what you mean. They’re pretty good, but I’m surprised you know who they are. I don’t know many other wizardfolk that know muggle bands.”

            “Yes, well, believe it or not I happen to have an acquaintance in Ravenclaw that happens to have a muggle friend, and they introduced her to muggle bands.”

            Harry couldn’t help but snort at that. “You actually hang out with someone that’s not in Slytherin?”

            “We don’t hang out, we use the same spot in the library to study because it’s quiet and nobody else knows it’s there since it’s close to the restricted section. There’s a bunch of books that don’t have a space on a shelf and are just stacked up so you can’t see there’s a space in the back unless you’re right up on it so you can see past the books. I only managed to find it because I was looking for a quiet place to study and I thought I’d go and sit in the back between some of the bookshelves where no one ever goes, and I happened to see there was this enclosed space back there with more tables.

            Anyways, Natasha likes to listen to music while she studies so she always has this iPod her friend got her and listens to this radio station called Pandora to listen to music. I got curious since most of the songs were ones I’d never heard before, so I asked her about it one day and she told me about her friend and how he’d gotten her into some of the bands he liked. I happened to find that some of them weren’t that bad, so she let me use a duplication spell on her iPod and showed me how to use it so I could have one of my own and listen to music whenever I was off on my own somewhere.”

            Harry was utterly stunned at the confession, having never imagined in a million years a pureblood like Draco Malfoy would ever even want to touch _primitive_ muggle technology like that, let alone actually have something like that himself to use. “Wow… Do you even use it when you’re at home?”

            Draco nodded. “I have to keep it hidden, of course, but I do use it. What about you? You have a favorite band?”

            “Eh, I’m kind of tied between Seether and Shinedown, mainly because they have a pretty close sound when it comes to their music. You hear of either of them?”

            Draco grinned. “Are you kidding? Shinedown is right behind Breaking Benjamin for me. I don’t think I’ve heard anything from Seether though.”

            “You should listen to them sometime. If you like Shinedown then you’ll like them too, I’m telling you. If you’d want, I could find some of their songs when we get back home,” Harry offered, finding himself momentarily distracted as he noticed a bit of Draco’s ice cream dripping down over his fingers only for the blonde to bring his hand up to his lips and lick off the sticky treat.

            “That’s fine with me,” Draco agreed, deciding he might as well since it wasn’t like he really had anything better to do at Grimmauld. Ok, that and maybe he was surprisingly enjoying his time with Harry so far and didn’t think he’d want to just go back to more or less ignoring him when they were back at the house.

            He looked to Harry when he felt eyes on him, only to arch a brow when he noticed him staring at him rather intently. “What?”

            Harry was pulled out of his trance from the sound of Draco’s voice, and he offered a smile as he shook his head. “Uh, nothing.”

            “Seriously, what? Do I have something on my face?”

            Harry chuckled as he watched Draco wipe at his face and some of the ice cream that was still on his fingers got on his cheek. “No, but now you do.”

            Draco blinked and quickly tried to wipe at his face again, shooting the Gryffindor a small glare when he laughed at him.

            “You’re making it worse,” Harry noted. “Here, let me.”

            The blonde was frozen as the other teen brought his hand up and wiped at his cheek, and he felt his stomach flutter for some reason when he noticed the brunette’s eyes flick down to his lips. He felt himself starting to panic a bit and felt the need to jerk back and put some space between them when Harry slowly started to lean in, but at the same time he found himself holding his breath in anticipation when his mind flashed back to the drunken kisses they’d shared several days ago.

            “Harry? Malfoy?”

            The boys quickly jumped apart, Draco’s heart beating in his throat as he wondered what the hell just happened and why he’d almost allowed Harry to kiss him, while Harry turned to see who had just called their names.

Hermione arched a brow at how nervous the two seemed, and with the way Draco appeared to be having some kind of silent panic attack and Harry’s face looked beet red she was fairly certain she’d just interrupted something. Sadly, she wasn’t sure if she felt bad about that or not considering she still wasn’t exactly ready to jump for joy knowing her friend had a thing for the Slytherin.

“Hey. Didn’t expect to see you boys here. What are you two up to?”

“Uh, we just thought we’d get out of the house for a while, you know? Uhm, what about you?” Harry muttered, partially thankful Hermione interrupted them before he fucked up with Draco and partially wanting to strangle her for the interruption.

            “Shopping with my mum. We’re having a mother-daughter day,” the witch explained, smiling when her mother made her way out of the store next to them and handed her a slushy.

            “I’m sorry, dear. The machine was broken for the cherry, but at least the raspberry was working,” Catelyn told her daughter before she noticed the two boys and she recognized one was one of the boys that had stopped by the house at the start of summer and stayed long enough for some tea before the three of them had gone out. “Harry,” she greeted with a warm smile. “It’s good to see you again. How are things with you? Hermione said one of your godfathers was ill not too long ago.”

            Harry smiled at the woman’s concern, not surprised Hermione had mentioned Lupin to her parents since she tended to worry over people she cared about and had probably been worried about how Lupin had been feeling the closer it got to the full moon. “It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Granger. Everything’s fine. My godfather’s feeling much better now.”

            “I’m glad to hear it. You and your other godfather should be sure to drink a lot of black tea to help you keep from catching whatever he had,” Catelyn said thoughtfully.

            “No need to worry. It wasn’t anything really contagious,” Harry said half truthfully.

            “Well, still. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your immune system up now is there?” Catelyn pointed out, her eyes flicking over to the blonde-haired boy when she noticed him shifting from foot to foot and looking a bit uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, how rude of me, I don’t believe we’ve met. Catelyn Granger.”

            Draco blinked as the woman suddenly had a hand outstretched to him, and he couldn’t help but notice Granger glaring at him as though she was daring him to be rude to her mother. “Draco Malfoy,” he introduced himself as he accepted her hand, Hermione looking at him in shock to see he’d actually accepted her mother’s hand since she was a muggle.

            “Draco. That’s a lovely name. Are you a friend of Hermione’s too?” Catelyn asked curiously, unable to recall hearing her daughter speak of anyone named Draco before.

            “Uh…” Draco was at a loss for words, not sure what he should say to that. “Not really. I’m more Harry’s friend, but since he seems to think I’d get along great with Hermione and Ron I’m willing to try and see if he’s right about that,” he said truthfully.

            Hermione was at a loss for words to hear Draco not only refer to Harry by his first name but also as a friend, and she honestly had no idea what to think to hear he was actually willing to try and get to know her and Ron better just because Harry apparently thought they’d all get along great. Sure, Draco had been fine when they all went out the week before, but he hadn’t seemed too happy about it and only really talked to her or Ron if one of them asked him a question. It just had her wanting to get Harry alone to talk to him that much more.

            Since she knew she wasn’t going to get the chance to do that anytime soon, she decided to be nice and let him and Malfoy get back to what they were doing and cleared her throat to get her mother’s attention. “Hey, we better get going if we want to make it to the theater before the movie starts,” she reminded her.

            “Oh, that’s right. I wanted to make sure we got there a little early so we could get a good seat. Well, it was nice seeing you boys. I hope I’ll be seeing you around again sometime.”

            “You too, Mrs. Granger. Later, Hermione,” Harry told them with a small wave.

            “Bye, Harry. Malfoy.”

            Draco was quiet as he watched Granger and her mother start making their way across the street, and he looked to Harry when he felt him nudge his arm.

            “Did you mean it? About giving Ron and ‘Mione a chance?”

            The Slytherin nodded. “I figured I might as well since it’s going better with you than I thought it would,” he admitted, trying as hard as he could to ignore that stupid fluttering in his stomach when Harry gave him a bright smile.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Draco and Harry had wandered aimlessly around until they came across a building that said something about laser tag, and after Harry learned he had never played laser tag before the two of them had gone in and lost track of time. They’d finally left when they started getting hungry and found a place to grab dinner, Harry keeping to his word and letting Draco pick where they ate since he picked lunch earlier.

            Harry had tried to talk the other teen into catching a movie after that since he wasn’t sure if the Order would be done with their meeting yet, but Draco had told him he was getting tired and he was ready to return to Grimmauld. Since he didn’t want to undo the progress they made that day by forcing the blonde to stay out a little later, he decided not to argue but he made sure they took the long walk back. He was just thankful Draco didn’t seem to mind since it was rather nice out tonight, plus it gave them a chance to continue asking each other questions.

            When they finally made it back to Grimmauld Harry frowned to see the doors to the library were closed, which he knew meant the Order must still be here and in the middle of a discussion since they tended to close and lock the doors and cast a Silencio in whatever room they had their meeting in just in case.

            He blinked when he noticed Draco making his way towards the library, and he quickly asked, “Where are you going?”

            “The library. I was going to grab a book and head up to my room and read until I fall asleep. I figured you could show me that band you told me about sometime tomorrow,” Draco said simply, wondering why the doors to the library were closed when they were always left open.

            Harry quickly jumped in front of him and blocked his way, and he offered a smile when he noticed Draco arching a brow at him rather than getting annoyed that he was bugging him so much. “Or, how about you come into the kitchen with me and help me make some cookies?” he suggested.

            “Cookies?”

            “Yeah, why not? I’m in the mood for something sweet again, and we have everything we need to make homemade cookies.”

            The Slytherin thought about it for a moment before he decided it might be fun, that and now that Harry mentioned it he really wanted some cookies. “Alright. What kind are we making?” he asked as he followed the other teen to the kitchen.

            “We can make more than one kind if you want. And if you’d want to make some sugar cookies we have what we need to make our own icing for them too.”

            “Nice. We should make some of those and some chocolate chip ones.”

            “Sounds good to me,” Harry agreed as he started getting out the ingredients they’d need for the cookies.

            Since Draco didn’t like the quiet he reached over and turned on the radio before he joined Harry at the counter and helped him make the cookie dough. Honestly, he had to admit it was a lot more fun than he expected it to be, and it was only made better since Harry seemed to be doing everything in his power to make him laugh and try and convince him to dance with him a bit to the music.

            Once they finally had the cookies in the oven and started cleaning up the kitchen while snacking on some of the extra cookie dough they had left over, he moved to throw away the napkins he’d used to wipe the icing off of the counter when Harry stepped in front of him and he accidentally got icing all over the front of his shirt.

            Harry, figuring it was only fair, reached over into the bowl that held their icing that was set out for the sugar cookies and scooped up a bit and smeared it all over the side of the Slytherin’s face.

            “Hey, that was an accident! You got in my way!” Draco protested.

            “Yeah, well that was an accident too. Your face just happened to get in the way of my hand,” Harry retorted.

            Draco gave a small glare before he reached over into the bag of flour still sitting out on the counter and he threw a handful at the Gryffindor.

            Harry blinked as he looked down at his flour and icing-coated shirt, and he smirked as he glanced back up to Draco. “Oh really? That’s how it’s going to be, huh?”

            Draco arched a brow when Harry turned his back on him, wondering what he was doing since he hadn’t seemed mad, and he gasped when the other teen turned back around and shoved a glob of cookie dough down the front of his shirt. “Oh it is so on!” he growled playfully as he reached for the closest ingredient he could get ahold of.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Molly shot Sirius and Remus a dark glare. “Let me get this straight. Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater, he’s living here with you while Harry’s staying here, and **you** ,” she pointed to Remus, “had Harry go out by himself with him all day today?! And you waited until the end of this meeting to mention it when we’ve been here for hours while Harry’s been out strolling about with a Death Eater?!”

            Remus frowned, shooting Sirius a glare when he heard him mumble, “My thoughts exactly,” and he let out a sigh as he gave Molly a look. “Draco is just a boy, Molly.”

            “Who’s a Death Eater!” the woman argued.

            “It wasn’t by choice,” Remus argued back.

            “But you don’t really know that. That’s just what the boy told you,” Arthur pointed out.

            “Draco wasn’t made a Death Eater by his own choice. I knew Narcissa was thinking of making him take the mark even though she knew he didn’t want it. She hoped it would please the Dark Lord and that he would be able to make up for Lucius’s disappointments, but I thought I had convinced her that wouldn’t make things better since there’s no way the boy could be useful to him,” Severus cut in. “And if he had taken the mark willingly then he would not have run away. Anyone who willingly takes the mark enjoys being by the Dark Lord’s side and nothing he did, said, or had them do would make them run away.”

            Sirius snorted. “You sure it’s not just you who gets off on that kind of thing?”

            “Sirius,” Albus reprimanded gently while Remus gave his lover a sharp kick.

            “Ow! What was that for?” Sirius asked his lover angrily.

            “Why would Narcissa think Draco could be useful to Voldemort in the first place? He’s still underage, so it’s not like he could go around torturing and killing people like the rest of the Death Eaters when he still has a tracer in his wand that would alert the Ministry to his whereabouts and the type of spells he’s doing,” Remus noted as he blatantly ignored Sirius.

            Severus frowned. “He couldn’t, and I explained that to her in hopes he could be spared from the mark. The only way Draco could be useful to the Dark Lord would be if…” he trailed off as a sudden thought hit him.

            “If what?” Tonks asked curiously.

            “…No. She wouldn’t do that,” Severus muttered, mainly to himself.

            He’d known Voldemort since the man first rose to power, so he knew he tended to have a thing for pretty boys, but he also knew he had other Death Eaters he could play with that would be more than willing. Besides, Narcissa would never be so heartless as to purposely throw her own child to someone like that. Lucius certainly never had, and he knew that because he’d happened to walk by a room once just last summer when Voldemort had been talking about how he couldn’t help but notice that Draco was growing up nicely. He’d heard Lucius offer him something else in exchange for him to leave his son alone and that was that, so surely Narcissa would have tried to make some kind of deal of her own so he would leave the boy alone…wouldn’t she?

            “What is it, Severus?” Remus asked with concern, growing a little worried as he saw several emotions pass over the man’s face before his blank mask was firmly back in place.

            Severus shook his head. “Draco is **not** a Death Eater. I wasn’t there the night he ran away, but I know if he had been given some kind of assignment that the other Death Eaters wouldn’t be searching for him, and the Dark Lord wouldn’t be furious that he hasn’t been found yet.”

            Molly scoffed. “And we’re just supposed to believe that because you say so? How do we know You-Know-Who doesn’t suspect you’re not as loyal to him as you claim to be and just isn’t telling you all of his plans anymore?”

            “I honestly doubt Harry would’ve found Draco in the state he did, and that Draco would be as afraid to step outside as he is, if he didn’t run away,” Remus reasoned.

            “But it could still be a trick,” Sirius argued.

            “So you don’t trust him,” Tonks noted.

            “Of course I don’t trust him! He may just be a boy, but that doesn’t mean anything at this point in time! He has the Dark Mark, and that means he could call Voldemort to him any time he wanted to! And now he knows where Harry is so he could lead that bastard right to him!” Sirius growled angrily.

            “But you said Draco’s been here for a little over two weeks now. If that was really the plan all along then why hasn’t he already done that?” Arthur questioned.

            “If Severus says he’s not a Death Eater then we will not treat him like one. From what I’ve heard, it sounds as though Draco could use our protection. I think it might be in his best interest if he remains here for the summer,” Albus said simply. “And in case he isn’t the only underage wizard Voldemort has tried to recruit, I will take extra precaution when school starts back to ensure his safety,” he added when he noticed Severus looked as though he were about to protest.

            “No, that’s too risky. The longer Draco is gone, the worse it will be for him if he is caught. I should take him back with me. I could come up with an excuse as to why he disappeared like he did if he tells me what happened that made him run, and I can keep him close and make sure he stays safe,” Severus argued, worried about what could happen to his godson if they stuck with Dumbledore’s plan of keeping him here with Potter for the summer when it could be dangerous for him when he returned to Hogwarts. After all, there really was no telling whether or not any of the other Slytherins would be Death Eaters themselves-willing or otherwise.

            “If you honestly think I would let you take that boy back to Voldemort for even one second, you’ve lost your damn mind!” Remus growled angrily.

            “He is **my** godson, and I know what’s best for him to keep him safe!” Severus snapped back.

            “Oh, yes, and that’s why he showed up a block away from here bloody and unconscious just two weeks ago! Excuse me for not thinking you can actually keep him safe while he’s around that madman!”

            “And if you think I’m going to let him stay in the same house as a werewolf-”

            “Oh that’s rich, especially when we know Fenrir Greyback is like a faithful little pet that’s never far from Voldemort’s side!”

            Sirius, fearing this argument might start taking a turn in another direction since both Remus and Severus were now standing and he noticed Remus’s fingers twitching as though he was wanting to reach for his wand, reached out and took his lover’s hand in an attempt to calm him. “Remus,” he said gently while Albus gave a firm, “Severus,” in warning.

            “You can’t honestly tell me that leaving Draco here with Potter and these two imbeciles is safer than having him with me and assuring the Dark Lord doesn’t hurt him!” Severus argued with the elder man.

            Tonks scoffed. “How is going back to a place where he was hurt and felt the need to escape better than leaving him here where he’s protected?”

            “…She has a point, Severus. I think Albus is right. He should stay here where the Death Eaters won’t find him,” Arthur said thoughtfully.

            “Arthur, you can’t honestly tell me you’re willing to put Harry at risk like that!” Molly said angrily.

            “If Albus believes it’s what should be done then I don’t think we have to worry about him being at risk,” Arthur reasoned.

            “So it’s decided then. Draco will stay with us, and he won’t be treated like a Death Eater just because he has the mark. I believe that’s all we needed to address for now, so unless anyone else has something to add, I’d say the meeting’s adjourned,” Remus said simply, still just barely refraining from hexing Severus into next week for even suggesting they let him take the boy back to Voldemort with him.

            “This is a mistake, and if **anything** happens to Draco I swear it won’t be the Dark Lord you’ll have to worry about,” Severus warned darkly.

            “I’ll inform the members that couldn’t make it to the meeting what’s going on,” Tonks offered.

            “Thank you, Nymphadora.”

            The woman frowned at Dumbledore’s use of her first name, but she gave a small nod in response as they made their way over to the floo so they could get going.

            “I want to talk to Draco before I leave,” Severus demanded once the others left. “I think it should be up to him whether or not he stays here or comes with me.”

            Remus took a deep breath to reign in his temper since he could understand where Severus was coming from since he himself felt that same protectiveness for Harry. “I understand you want to see him, and I know it’s most likely because you want to make sure he’s really ok for yourself, but I don’t think you should do this to him.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “He’s been rather jumpy ever since he’s been here, and I’ve noticed he’s just now starting to get to a point where he seems to be able to relax and feel safe here. He has no clue about the Order, and I doubt he knows anything about you being a spy for our side because I know how careful you are, so in his mind all that will happen when he sees you is he’ll be left thinking the Death Eaters must have found him and that he’s not safe here. And can you honestly tell me you think it would be a good idea to take him back there when he obviously left for a reason? I have my suspicions as to what might have happened to him, but I don’t know for sure because any time someone mentions the night Harry found him he stops talking.”

            “Crabbe and Goyle have both spoken with the Dark Lord about how their sons wish to take the mark, and if that happens they could kill Draco when he returns to Hogwarts if the Dark Lord wishes it.”

            “You heard Albus. He said he would take extra precautions when school starts back. I know you still probably want to talk to to him, but at the very least you should let me talk to Draco and let him know about the Order and about you before you attempt to speak with him.”

            Severus wanted to argue, but since he knew the werewolf had a point about how Draco might react to seeing him without warning he decided to wait for now. “I will be back soon, Lupin. I expect to be able to speak with my godson then,” he said simply.

            Remus nodded in understanding, a relieved sigh escaping him when the man finally left. “Well that went better than I thought it would.”

            “Yeah it did. I was half expecting you to pull your wands on each other for a minute there. I’m kind of disappointed it didn’t resort to that to be honest,” Sirius admitted.

            Remus rolled his eyes but said nothing as he cancelled the Silencio on the library and opened the door, about to ask Sirius if he wanted to see if Harry and Draco had made it back yet when he suddenly heard screams coming from the direction of the kitchen.

            He and Sirius pulled their wands and rushed towards the sound, though they both froze when they made it to the open doorway and saw the floor covered in flour, cookie dough, icing, and even broken eggs. They watched in shock as they noticed Harry and Draco in the floor, and at first they thought they were fighting and needed to be pulled apart, until they heard Draco laugh as he straddled Harry’s waist and ran his icing-covered hands through his hair.

            “No, no! Not the hair!” Harry protested even as he laughed.

            “Oh, come on, it’s not like I can make it any worse than it normally is,” Draco joked, letting out a squeak in surprise when he suddenly felt an egg being crushed on top of his head.

            Remus found himself having to stifle a laugh behind his hand as he watched the oblivious boys, and he quickly reached over and grabbed Sirius’s arm to pull him out of the room before they were noticed so they wouldn’t interrupt the food fight that was in progress-or get caught in the crossfire.


	13. Chapter 13

            Harry grinned and grabbed ahold of Draco’s wrists when the other teen tried to retaliate for the egg he’d just smashed over his head, and he quickly flipped them so he had Draco pinned to the floor.

            Draco winced since he wasn’t prepared for the flip and he ended up hitting his head on the floor, and he felt himself panic at the sudden change in position with his wrists being held. So he was a little relieved when Harry moved his hands from his wrists and he felt him move one to the back of his head where he’d hit it while the other rested on the floor next to him.

            “Whoa, sorry about that. That sounded like it hurt,” Harry apologized.

            The Slytherin couldn’t seem to find his voice for a moment as he felt the other teen’s fingers gently running over his scalp and obviously checking to see if he was alright. “Uh, it’s alright. It wasn’t that bad,” he finally managed to get out.

            “Good. Then I don’t have to feel bad about doing this.”

            Before Draco could ask what, Harry scooped some icing off of the floor and was running it all through his hair like the blonde had done to him.

            “Really?” Draco asked with a small huff that was ruined by the smile gracing his lips.

            “What? You did it to mine. I was just returning the favor.”

            “Yeah, but nothing I do to your hair could make it look worse. Mine, on the other hand, takes a lot of work to keep it looking as good as it does.”

            Harry smiled at that. “Hey, I’ll have you know, some people happen to like the ‘just rolled out of bed’ look.”

            Draco hummed in thought. “Well, I suppose you can pull it off better than most people.”

            Harry chuckled. “Not the greatest compliment in the world, but I’ll take it.”

            “Good, because you’re not getting a better one,” the blonde admitted, chuckling himself when that pulled a laugh out of the Gryffindor hovering over him. “Anyways, can you get off of me now so we can get up and get cleaned up? Some of this crap is starting to dry on me, and it feels gross.”

            “Aww, but I didn’t even get to top you off with sprinkles,” Harry said with a playful frown even as he did as he was asked. Naturally he gasped when he was off of the other teen only to have him rub icing all over his face. “I thought you just said you wanted us to clean up.”

            Draco smirked. “Yes, well, I had to say something so I could get you off of me and I could get the upper hand again, now didn’t I?” he asked just to gasp in surprise when he was suddenly tackled to the floor once more, squirming uncomfortably to have the brunette’s arms around him to keep him from reaching for anything he could use to cover him in. He was about to tell him he’d have to let go of his arms eventually if he wanted to retaliate for the icing to the face, though he found himself laughing when Harry started rubbing his icing-covered cheeks against his own before he could say anything.

            He wasn’t sure how long the two of them continued their little food fight after that, though eventually he had to admit he really was getting too uncomfortable rolling around in the floor with all that crap stuck to him, so they finally called a truce and got to their feet. And he could honestly say he was never more glad than he was then that the whole underage wizards being unable to use magic outside of school wasn’t completely true, otherwise he and Harry would’ve had one hell of a time cleaning up the mess they made of each other and the kitchen.

            Once everything was spotless once again he helped Harry make some more icing for the cookies and put all the ingredients away. Since the timer on the counter said the cookies only had about five more minutes to go before they were done, he decided to wait with Harry rather than heading up to his room for a shower even though he still felt a little gritty even after the Scourgify he’d cast on himself. He hopped up on the freshly clean counter and reached over to flick through radio stations until he found something good to listen to, and he glanced to the other teen after a few minutes when he felt as though he was being watched.

            “What?”

            Harry gave a small shrug as he made his way over and rested his hands on the counter on either side of Draco’s hips. “It’s hard not to stare with you smiling like that. It’s pretty distracting,” he admitted, just barely managing to resist leaning up to kiss him when he noticed his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

            “I don’t see how that’s distracting.”

            Harry thought about just not saying anything to that, but since the Slytherin hadn’t seemed to mind that he’d more or less been flirting with him all day he simply said, “Probably because you have one of the most beautiful smiles I’ve ever seen.”

            Draco felt his heart stutter in his chest at the honesty he could see on the brunette’s face at his words, and not for the first time he found himself wondering what the hell was happening here. He and Harry were supposed to hate each other, or at least that was how it had always seemed after the Gryffindor rejected his offer of friendship when they first met, and they’d spent years barely being able to stand being in the same room together for longer than five minutes without wanting to insult or hex one another… So then why did having Harry so close and saying such things to him have his pulse racing and his breath hitching? And why did this sudden 180 feel so…natural between them, like this was how things were supposed to be all along?

            “You really should smile more, you know. It suits you a lot better than all the glaring and scowling you do.”

            Draco was snapped out of his thoughts at that, and he nervously licked his lips and felt his heart stutter once more when he noticed the other teen’s eyes zeroing in on the movement. “Yeah, well…I don’t really have much to smile about these days…” he mumbled softly.

            “Me neither, but I noticed it’s easier to find something to smile about when you’re with the right person,” Harry said just as softly as he unconsciously brought a hand up to cup Draco’s cheek.

            Draco’s breath hitched as he lost himself in those hypnotic emerald orbs. “…Yeah, I think I noticed that too,” he said breathily, slowly leaning down when he saw Harry leaning up. His eyes fluttered closed as his fingers tightly gripped the counter, and he felt that weird fluttering sensation in his stomach when he felt the brunette’s breath on his lips.

            “Mmm, something sure smells good in here,” Sirius said as he made his way into the kitchen, having slipped away from Remus since he was wanting to check on the boys to make sure their little playful fight hadn’t turned into an actual fight-that and it smelled like whatever Harry and Draco had been making was almost done.

            He froze when he saw how quickly Harry moved away from Draco and how the boys turned their faces away from each other, and he couldn’t help but notice the dark red blushes staining their cheeks. Obviously, since he himself had been in that same position with Remus plenty of times when they were waiting for something to get done in the oven, he realized what he just interrupted, though he wouldn’t have felt too bad for it if it wasn’t for the rather frustrated look he saw on Harry’s face before his godson offered him a strained smile.

            “Yeah, we were making cookies. They should be done-” Harry was cut off by the timer as it buzzed. “…right now, apparently,” he continued as he turned off the timer, letting out an exasperated sigh since it seemed he and Draco still would’ve been interrupted even if Sirius hadn’t walked in.

            “Guess I have great timing then, huh?” Sirius joked, glancing to Draco to see him watching Harry with a rather conflicted look on his face for some reason, so he couldn’t help but wonder what the little snake was thinking.

            Honestly, it was times like this he wished he was skilled in Legilimency so he could put an end to his worries, though even then he was doubtful he would be able to get a read on the boy’s thoughts since he was Severus’s godson and was probably a master at Occlumency like the potions master.

            “Actually, we still have to put icing on the sugar cookies, so I wouldn’t say your timing’s that great.”

            Sirius was snapped out of his thoughts at Harry’s words, and he gave a small shrug as he made his way over to him as he was moving the cookies to a couple of plates. “I don’t mind helping with that,” he told him as he pulled out his wand.

            Harry was about to tell him he and Draco were going to icing them by hand because it was more fun, but before he could Sirius waved his wand and the icing was already being spread over all the sugar cookies at once. He frowned as he watched Sirius steal a few cookies from each plate, and he looked to the door when he heard footsteps.

            “So **this** is where you disappeared to,” Remus said as he made his way into the kitchen, giving his lover a tight smile when he noticed Harry’s frown and how tense Draco looked-which told him Sirius ruined some kind of moment the boys were having even though he’d specifically told him to leave the kids alone after they walked in on that food fight earlier.

            “I couldn’t help myself. It just smelled so good in here, so I thought I’d see what it was,” Sirius said innocently, getting a little nervous when Harry turned to hand a few cookies over to Draco and Remus completely dropped his smile and shot him one of his ‘just wait until we’re alone’ looks that told him he was most likely going to be exiled to the couch tonight.

            Draco found himself pulled from his thoughts when Harry was suddenly in front of him and handing him some of their cookies, and he just barely suppressed a shiver when their fingers brushed together.

            It was quiet for a moment until Harry asked the first thing he could think of to break the ice since Draco seemed a little tense. “So, would you maybe want to pop some popcorn and take a few cookies and watch a movie or something?”

            The blonde gave a small shake of his head. “I’m getting pretty tired, so I was going to head up to my room soon.”

            “…Yeah, ok. Uh, maybe sometime tomorrow then?”

            Draco thought about refusing outright since he needed a bit of time to think without Harry right in front of him to distract him, but he couldn’t deny that he really liked spending time with the Gryffindor so far. So he finally gave a small smile and nodded. “Sure. But you have to find the time to show me that band first,” he reminded him as he hopped off of the counter.

            Harry gave a relieved smile, having been afraid he might have somehow fucked things up between them when he tried to kiss him even though he was positive Draco had been leaning in for it. “Ok. Just tell me when you want me to show you some of their songs.”

            “Will do. Good night, Harry.”

            “Night, Dray.”

            Harry watched as Draco made his way out of the kitchen, and he let out a soft sigh once he was gone. Of course, now that he was alone he couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched, and he looked to see Sirius shaking his head and Lupin giving him a soft smile. “What?”

            Remus quickly elbowed Sirius in the side when he saw him open his mouth, and knowing him it was probably going to be to make some kind of teasing comment. “It’s nothing. Just good to see you boys getting along. I was starting to wonder if you two were ever going to talk to each other or if you were just going to try to avoid each other for the rest of the summer. Glad to see getting out today seemed to help.”

            Harry couldn’t stop the smile from coming to his face at that. “Yeah, it did… Thanks for talking me into it. How did the meeting go? I saw it was still going on when we first got back.”

            “It went about like I suspected it would,” Remus admitted. “Severus was surprised to hear about Draco-said he never wanted the mark even though his mother was wanting him to take it. He also said, like you and I already figured, Draco isn’t just on some kind mission Voldemort gave him because the Death Eaters are looking for him and Voldemort isn’t too happy that they haven’t found him yet.”

            “I still don’t see why you’re so willing to believe that just because Severus is the one that said it,” Sirius mumbled, wincing a bit when he noticed Remus shooting him another dark glare.

            “Anyways,” Remus continued, “Dumbledore seems to think the best thing for Draco at this point is to have him stay with us for the rest of the summer so he’ll be protected, and none of the others seemed to have any objections.”

            Sirius snorted. “That’s not how I remember it.”

            Harry, sensing his godfathers were about to start arguing any second with how tense Lupin was starting to look, decided now would be a good time to head up to his room for the night so he cleared his throat to get their attention. “Right, well, I think I’m going to head up to bed. I’ll see you both in the morning,” he told them as he made his way over to hug them both.

            “Good night, Harry,” Sirius called while Remus added, “Sweet dreams.”

            As soon as Harry was out of the kitchen Remus turned to Sirius and punched him in the arm rather hard.

            “Ow! What?!”

            “What did I tell you earlier?!” Remus asked angrily.

            “Uh…”

            “I specifically told you to leave the boys alone tonight, and what do you? As soon as I take my eyes off of you for five minutes you sneak down here and interrupt them!”

            “I was only checking up on them to make sure their little food fight hadn’t turned into something more serious. You can’t honestly say you blame me for that.”

            “Oh really? So instead of just peeking in and seeing if things were ok or not you decide to just waltz on in and interrupt whatever it was they were doing, which had to have been something otherwise Harry wouldn’t have been giving you the look he was and Draco wouldn’t have looked so uncomfortable when I came to find you. Now am I wrong?”

            Sirius frowned as Remus crossed his arms and arched a brow at him as if he were staring down a disobedient student and daring them to lie to him. “To be fair, I wasn’t thinking I could be interrupting something when I went in there. It smelled like the cookies were done so I assumed they were just sitting around eating them or something, I didn’t know I was going to walk in on them kissing.”

            “They were kissing?” Remus asked in surprise. Sure, it was apparent Harry had a thing for the other boy, but after how they’d seemed to be walking on eggshells around each other and barely even speaking to one another he wouldn’t have expected things to go so well with them today that it would lead to confessions or kisses.

            “Well, not exactly, but they were so close when I walked in I think they were about to before they heard me and jumped apart.”

            Remus let out an aggravated huff at the admission. “Sirius.”

            “What? I didn’t do anything. So I wasn’t thinking when I walked in here, but it’s not like I was expecting for something like that to be going on. Besides, if I hadn’t interrupted them then the timer would have considering it went off about thirty seconds after I walked in.”

            “That doesn’t excuse the fact that you came down here after I told you to leave them alone tonight. And you can’t even tell me you feel bad about interrupting them when you were just saying you don’t see how I can believe Draco’s not a Death Eater just because Severus told us that. If you honestly think he’s loyal to Voldemort and not Dumbledore you’re completely out of your mind!”

            “In case you’ve forgotten, that slimy bastard willingly signed up to be a Death Eater!” Sirius finally snapped. “It wasn’t Dumbledore’s idea-he **willingly** decided to be that nutjob’s bitch! So excuse the hell out of me for having trouble believing every word that comes out of his mouth, especially when what he tells us is something that could potentially put Harry in danger if we choose to believe it without question!”

            Remus gritted his teeth at the underlying implication he could hear in that statement. “Oh, I know you’re not saying what I think you are!”

            “You haven’t seemed concerned about what could possibly happen to Harry if that little snake really **is** just playing us all! You’re so dead-set on believing he’s perfectly innocent when we’ve yet to be presented with a single bit of actual evidence that him ending up here with us-with **Harry** -wasn’t somehow planned by Voldemort!”

            “If he was sent here then why in the hell would he wait so long to make a move?! How does that make any sense to you?! He’s had more than enough opportunities to call Voldemort here, and he had an all-day opportunity to do something today while he and Harry were out all alone! I’m not worrying myself that this is all some kind of elaborate trick to get Harry alone because I’m not fucking blind, Sirius!” Remus snapped before he took a deep breath to try and calm himself before this argument ended up resorting in a duel.

            “That boy is just as in need of protection as Harry is right now, and if you honestly can’t see that…” he trailed off as he gave Sirius a disappointed look.

            “How am I wrong for being worried about my godson?! After everything that’s happened-after we lost James and Lilly-how can you stand there and tell me you don’t have any doubts whatsoever about Draco?! Peter was our **friend** , but he’s the reason James and Lilly are dead and I spent twelve years of my life locked away in Azkaban! I’ve never heard Ron or Hermione, or even Harry for that matter, having a single good thing to say about Draco before he showed up here, so how can you so easily be willing to trust this isn’t a trick?! What if his orders weren’t to call Voldemort here right away? What if his orders were to find Harry and keep an eye on him, figure out what him and anyone he’s acquainted with are up to and planning so he can be two steps ahead of us and win this war?”

            Remus glared daggers at the other man for that. “Do you really think I haven’t already considered other possibilities like that? I’m not stupid. Draco isn’t as hard to read as he tries to make himself, and it’s clear to me that something definitely happened that night Harry found him. I know what you’re doing, and you need to stop. Draco isn’t Peter, and you shouldn’t project your feelings towards that rat on him.”

            Sirius pressed his lips as he looked away from his lover. “You can’t blame me for worrying that it could happen… Peter was a threat right under our noses, and I didn’t see it in time to stop it. I’ll be dammed if I ever make that same mistake twice.”

            Remus let out an exasperated sigh as he slowly shook his head. “I love you, Sirius, but I swear you can be the most stubborn, paranoid ass I’ve ever known. Just think about what I said, and maybe the next time you see Draco why don’t you actually try to take a chance to get to know him like I’ve been trying to do. Maybe then you’ll realize how ridiculous you’re being about this whole situation.”

            With that, he turned and made his way out of the kitchen and up to their bedroom since he knew their argument would be stuck in an endless loop if he stayed to hear Sirius’s retort. And since he didn’t want to risk getting into it all over again when Sirius finally got ready for bed, he simply grabbed a pillow and a spare blanket out of their closet and threw it out into the hallway for him to see when he came up, and he locked the bedroom door and spelled it so the other man wouldn’t be able to use his wand to get in.


	14. Chapter 14

            Draco let out a tired sigh as he threw the bedcovers off of his head and stared up at the ceiling being illuminated by the early morning sun.

            He’d tried as hard as he could the night before to get some sleep, but he hadn’t been able to get that almost kiss out of his head after he laid down so he ended up tossing and turning most of the night as the whole day they’d spent together played on repeat in his head. He hadn’t been able to get his mind to quiet down for even a few blissful minutes, and every time he thought about everything he couldn’t help but internally curse himself for allowing the brunette to flirt with him in the first place since it had obviously given him the wrong idea.

            Of course, the more he tried to tell himself that, the more a traitorous voice in the back of his head argued that Harry hadn’t been the only one that was flirting or wanting a kiss. He tried to tell himself that was ridiculous because he didn’t want anything to do with the Gryffindor like that, but every time he tried to focus on that thought it led to him thinking about those drunken kisses that were too hazy to fully remember.

            He let out another soft sigh as he just laid there for a few more minutes, though when he realized it was pointless he simply got up and pulled out the journal Lupin talked him into starting and opened it up and whispered his password so he could get some of these troubling thoughts out of his head.

            By the time he’d gotten everything off of his chest that he could remember from how yesterday made him feel, the sun was high in the sky and he could smell something good coming from the kitchen, so he whispered his counter password and hid the journal under his mattress before he got up and got dressed and made his way downstairs.

            The Slytherin furrowed his brows as he made his way into the kitchen and he noticed Lupin cooking at the stove and Black leaning against the counter drinking what he assumed was most likely coffee. He couldn’t help but notice the tension in the air between them, and it was odd to see them standing so far apart and the air around them feeling so thick when he’d grown used to seeing the couple barely an inch apart any time they were in the same room together-especially in the mornings when Lupin was cooking.

            He only grew more confused when Black noticed him standing in the doorway and he noticed the man shoot him a small glare, and he was just thinking about turning around and maybe heading to the library in lieu of breakfast when Lupin turned and noticed him as well.

            Remus offered a kind smile when he saw the boy standing in the doorway. “Good morning, Draco. There’s still half a pot of fresh coffee left if you’d like some. Or if you’d rather I could make you some hot chocolate,” he offered when he noticed the kid looked a little tired this morning.

            “Uh, no, that’s alright. Coffee’s fine,” Draco assured him as he hesitantly made his way over to the coffee pot where Black was still leaning against the counter. “So where’s Harry?” he found himself asking, having only wanted to fill the tense silence and wanting to facepalm at the fact he chose to ask about the brunette out of all the things he could’ve tried to start a conversation about.

            “Not up yet. He doesn’t usually sleep in too late though, so he’ll most likely be up by the time breakfast is ready,” Remus said thoughtfully as Draco poured himself a cup of coffee and began dropping in sugar and coffee creamer to sweeten it a bit.

            “Why? Need him for something?” Sirius couldn’t help but ask, holding his hands up in a placating manner when Remus shot him a warning look.

            Draco frowned at the question as he stirred his coffee. “Uh, not particularly. I was just curious since he’s usually always up when you two are,” he muttered awkwardly, growing uncomfortable when the conversation dropped after that and was replaced with that tense silence once again.

            Needless to say, he was more than a little relieved when Harry shuffled into the kitchen a short while later, and he offered a small smile in greeting.

            “Morning, everybody,” Harry greeted with a soft yawn.

            “Good morning, Harry. You’re just in time,” Remus told him as he turned off the stove and waved his wand to send everything into the dining room and onto the table.

            Harry arched a brow as he made his way over to the coffee pot to pour himself a mug and he noticed the slightly dark circles under Draco’s eyes. “You look tired,” he noted.

            Draco snorted. “I’ll bet.” At Harry’s questioning look he explained, “I couldn’t sleep. I have random bouts of insomnia sometimes, usually because my brain doesn’t seem to want to shut off and stop thinking, so I’m stuck tossing and turning all night,” he admitted, frowning when he realized he’d actually just said that when he’d never told anyone about that before.

            “Yikes, that’s rough. Does nothing help? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure we have some chamomile tea. And if we’re ever out of that Lupin stays stocked up on potion ingredients so you could make yourself a sleeping draught if you ever need to.”

            “Tea doesn’t usually help, no. Sleeping draughts do work, though I prefer not to use those unless I absolutely have to since it’s easy to get addicted to some of them or their effects stop working if you use them too much.”

            “Well, I know of a few muggle remedies aside from the chamomile tea that might work if you’d want to give it a try.”

            “I might take you up on that since this stupid insomnia thing happens a lot more than I’d like it to, especially at school.”

            “Really? You never really look exhausted at school any time I’ve seen you.”

            Draco gave a small huff of a laugh at that. “Yes, well, I usually use a concealment charm to make it look like I’m ready to run a marathon when I’m really ready to fall over any minute.”

            Harry shook his head and idly reached out to pick a bit of fuzz out of Draco’s hair and brush a few loose strands behind his ear. “You know Madam Pomfrey could probably help when you can’t sleep at school.”

            Draco shrugged as he tried to ignore the other teen’s touch and took a sip of his coffee. “I assume her fix would most likely be a sleeping draught so I don’t bother. I wouldn’t mind some of those muggle tips of yours if they actually work though.”

            “They don’t always work, but they are better than nothing,” Harry assured him as they both turned to make their way into the dining room.

            He arched a brow as he noticed his godfathers sitting on opposite sides of the table rather than right next to each other, and he shook his head as he made his way over to the table and he and Draco took a seat closer to Lupin.

            There was a bit of an awkward silence all throughout breakfast since Lupin and Black were so tense, but at least it was more bearable for Draco with Harry there to hold a conversation with. He was still relieved when breakfast finally ended so he could get away from all the tension he could feel between the couple, and since he didn’t want to be alone with the two of them he jumped at the offer when Harry asked if he wanted to go to the store with him to stock up on a few groceries.

            Harry offered a smile and reached out to give Draco an understanding pat on the back when he heard him let out a relieved sigh as soon as they stepped out of the house. “I know, it’s a little suffocating to be around them when they’re like that.”

            “Do they get like that often?”

            “I don’t really know since this is my first summer staying with them, but other than little spats here and there I don’t think so. The only other time I saw them get like this was when I got to come here about a week or so before school started back last year and they got into it over something. They seemed to make up pretty quick after that, and every time I’ve seen them since then they’ve been their normal coupley selves.”

            “Well, I hope this doesn’t last that long then. I thought seeing them together and all over each other all the time was bad, but I think I’d rather walk into a room and see them making out in a corner rather than on opposite sides of the room and feeling all that tension in the air,” Draco admitted.

            “Yeah, I know what you mean. But, hey, if they don’t get whatever it is sorted out soon we can always just hole up in my room or your room and find something to do so we can ignore them. Or we could also just go out more.”

            “I guess that works,” Draco agreed thoughtfully as he reached up to unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt since it was rather hot out this morning.

            Harry frowned as he noticed how clearly uncomfortable Draco was in his long-sleeve shirt, and he grabbed his arm to stop him for a moment. “Here,” he said simply as he started rolling up the other teen’s sleeves, tightening his grip on his wrist when he quickly tried to jerk his arm back.

            “What are you doing?! Stop!” Draco snapped as he tried to jerk his arm back once more to keep the brunette from revealing the Dark Mark.

            “It’s ok. It’s hot out today so I’m just trying to do you a favor here. We’re in the muggle world, remember? No one here will know what this means,” he said as he pulled Draco’s sleeve up and revealed his mark. “If anyone sees it they’ll just think it’s a tattoo that doesn’t mean anything,” he tried to assure him.

            Draco grimaced and looked away from his arm in disgust as he felt Harry continuing to roll his sleeve up to his elbow. “What if a muggleborn like Granger sees it?” he countered.

            Harry glanced up to Draco’s face as he moved to start rolling up his other sleeve. “No one will really see exactly what it us unless they’re right up on you, and if we happen to see someone from school all you’d have to do is pull your sleeve back down.”

            He let out a sigh at Draco’s silence and brought his hands up to cup the blonde’s face and turned him to make him look at him. “Look, I already know it’s there. It doesn’t bother me, so why go out of your way to hide it and make yourself uncomfortable?”

            “Maybe because it bothers **me** …” Draco muttered softly.

            “…You can’t feel it, right?”

            Draco frowned at the question. “Not really, unless he’s calling for the Death Eaters… I get this burning sensation in it when he does that, but other than that it’s not like I feel it.”

            “Alright, then just ignore it and don’t think about it being there.”

            The Slytherin scoffed. “That’s easier said than done. Even when I have my sleeves down I feel like others can still see it, and it makes me want to hide it that much more,” he admitted.

            Harry thought about it for a moment before he decided to just go for it and reached out and took Draco’s left hand and laced their fingers together so his forearm was pressed up against the blonde’s and covering the mark from view. “There. Now you can’t see it, and it’s better than risking giving yourself a heat stroke.”

            Draco felt his cheeks heating up as he looked down to their joined hands, and he felt that damn fluttering in his stomach starting up again while his heart pounded in his chest for some annoying reason. He wanted to try and jerk his arm away because he didn’t want the Gryffindor to get the wrong idea here and think shit like this was actually ok when this was going beyond a little harmless flirting, but at the same time that damn traitorous voice in the back of his head felt the need to point out he liked it; he liked the feeling of his skin tingling where it rested against Harry’s.

            He said nothing as he let Harry keep ahold of his hand and lead him along the sidewalk, and even though he noticed them getting a few odd looks from some of the muggles that passed them Draco eventually found he didn’t exactly mind. Hell, he even forgot Harry was holding his hand once the brunette started up a new conversation between them, and he only remembered once they made it to the store and Harry let go of his hand so he could go get a cart.

            Since it was remarkably cooler in the store Draco took the opportunity to pull his sleeves back down as he followed Harry down one of the aisles. “So what all are we getting?” he asked curiously, wondering just how much they were going to have to carry back with them.

            “Nothing we’ll have trouble carrying back to the house,” Harry assured him as he started looking through the different shelves.

            Draco unconsciously rubbed at his arm through his sleeve where he could still feel his skin tingling as he followed the other teen through the store and helped him find a few things. It was a little quiet between them as they shopped, though it wasn’t really uncomfortable. Of course, by the time they were checking out and making their way outside with their bags he couldn’t help but notice this odd sense of dread he seemed to have for some reason.

            He wasn’t sure why he was feeling like that all of a sudden, especially when he didn’t really have any reason to feel that way, so he tried to ignore it and started up a conversation as they walked. He paused for a moment halfway back to Grimmauld Place when he felt the Dark Mark prickling and it felt as though something were squirming just underneath his skin, and he looked around in panic because he knew that was a sign another Death Eater was nearby.

            He felt his blood run cold when he looked to his left and saw Yaxley and Travers. He should’ve known better than to think it’d be safe for him to keep going out, to think that the Dark Lord wouldn’t star widening his search for him and Harry both. It had only been a matter of time before he sent Death Eaters to start searching the muggle world.

            “Hey, you ok?” Harry asked in confusion as he turned to make his way back to the blonde when he realized he was no longer walking beside him.

            Draco, seeing Yaxley and Travers now looking his way and clearly recognizing him, quickly dropped his bags and gave Harry a hard shove that sent him flying backwards into some nearby bushes when Travers shot a killing curse at him, obviously thinking it was a muggle Draco was talking to that they didn’t need getting in their way. “Stay down!” he ordered before he took off running into the closest alley to lead them away so they wouldn’t see the person they’d almost killed was actually Harry Potter.

            It took Harry a moment to really process what just happened since he hit his head pretty good when he went down in those bushes, and he stood up just in time to see Draco disappearing down an alley and two guys chasing after him and firing off spells.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

            Draco cursed as he carefully dodged the spells being fired at him, and he tried to think of what he should do since he couldn’t escape when Yaxley and Travers had seen him. They would tell the Dark Lord where he was so more Death Eaters would be sent after him, and there would be a greater risk of him learning where Harry was when he wasn’t at Hogwarts under Dumbledore’s protection. He could try to modify their memories, but to do that he’d have to turn around and face them, and he wasn’t sure he could do that when there was two of them and only one of him.

            He cursed again when he suddenly came to a dead end and he was forced to stop and quickly pull out his wand as he turned to face the dark wizards, a shiver running down his spine to see Travers laughing at him as he and Yaxley moved in closer to assure he couldn’t run past them.

            “Well, well, well, who would’ve thought you’d be in a disgusting place like this? I was starting to think you’d crawled into a hole somewhere and died considering how Carrow said you looked when you got away from her, so at this point we’ve just been searching for a corpse. But look at you. Alive and well, and feisty as ever I see,” Travers chuckled darkly. “Oh, the Dark Lord’s going to be very pleased with us for being the ones to finally find you and bring you back to him.”

            “I’m not going back there!”

            Yaxley and Travers both laughed at that.

            “How cute. He actually thinks he has a choice,” Travers said with a smirk.

            “Come now, boy. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Yaxley warned as he pointed his wand at the kid.

            “You’ll have to kill me first,” Draco said firmly, hand slightly shaking as he tried to think of the quickest way he could take them both out and fix their memories so he could get out of here.

            “That can be arranged.”

            Yaxley quickly reached out and grabbed Travers’s wrist when he saw him raise his wand. “We can’t kill him. The Dark Lord wants him alive.”

            “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t at least get close to killing the little shit for what he did.”

            “Yes it does.”

            “You know what he did! How he dared to raise a hand to our Dark Lord! How he nearly killed Mcnair and Rowle! For that he needs to be punished!”

            “He’s not ours to punish, Travers!”

            Draco took a chance with them being distracted arguing with each other and quickly fired off a Stupefy, gasping when Yaxley easily reflected it and sent him flying back into the brick wall behind him.

            “Did you honestly expect that to work, boy?” Yaxley asked in amusement.

            Draco tried to raise his wand again only to immediately drop it and start screaming when Travers cast a Crucio on him and a wave of agony ripped through his body. The pain was so intense it took him a moment to realize when Travers was no longer cursing him, and he looked to see why he would’ve stopped only for his heart to nearly stop in his chest when he saw Harry had apparently chased after them and was now facing off with the two Death Eaters.

            He gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up off the ground, his muscles protesting as they were still tense from that Crucio. It was clear Travers and Yaxley assumed he was down for the count seeing as they were both solely focused on Harry, so he quickly fired off a stunning spell at Travers and jumped on Yaxley’s back to throw off his aim when he saw the tip of his wand glowing green.

            “You little shit! Get off!”

            Harry tightened his grip on his wand when the Death Eater slammed his back into the brick wall to get Draco off and he saw the blonde drop. He quickly fired off several offensive spells, relieved when one of them hit and sent the man flying over towards his incapacitated partner.

            With that taken care of he quickly made his way to Draco’s side and tried to get him to open his eyes. “Come on, Dray, get up. We gotta go.”

            When he saw the Slytherin’s eyes fluttering open he offered a small smile as he reached into his pocket for his pouch so he could get out his two-way mirror and contact Sirius and Lupin so they could come and get them and do something with the two Death Eaters.

            “We can’t leave them…” Draco warned, wincing as the brunette helped him sit up.

            “Yes we can. I’m gonna call Sirius on my two-way mirror and him and Lupin can take care of these guys.”

            “No, they can’t do that. He’ll get suspicious if they don’t come back and he’ll send more Death Eaters to search here. It won’t be safe for you anymore.”

            Harry snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly safe for anyone anywhere anymore.”

            “If he knows where you are he’ll make everyone search every last nook and cranny for you until he finds you, and it won’t matter to him how many muggles will be killed for getting in the way or being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Draco argued as he grabbed Harry’s shoulder and used it for support as he pushed himself to his feet.

            “But we can’t just let them go back to Vol-”

            Draco quickly cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth. “ **Don’t** say it.”

            Harry arched a brow but decided to reword it when Draco dropped his hand. “We can’t just let them go back to **him**. Besides, they might have information the Order can use.”

            Draco paused on his way to Travers and furrowed his brows in confusion as he looked to Harry. “The what?”

            Harry blinked as he realized what he just said. “Uh…nothing. It’s, uh, just-just nothing. But, anyways, we can’t let them go back when Sirius and Lupin could get some information out of them. And, even if they can’t, we have a chance to take two Death Eaters off of the streets here.”

            “Like that will actually make a difference. He’ll just break them out again. He always does that for the ones that don’t disappoint him…” Draco muttered darkly as he started the memory spell on Travers.

            Harry quickly made his way over and grabbed his wrist to stop him. “No, don’t. We should at least wait until Sirius and Lupin get here.”

            “I’m not waiting on Black and Lupin to get here! We don’t need more Death Eaters coming here and risking them finding out where you’re staying!” Draco snapped.

            “Then at least leave one! Make the other think they split up or something and they’ll meet up later.”

            “You are completely off your rocker if you think for one second-” the Slytherin cut off when he saw movement from the corner of his eye and he looked over Harry’s shoulder to see Yaxley pulling a knife from his belt. He didn’t even think about it when he saw him go to throw it, he just wrapped his arms around the Gryffindor and managed to reverse their positions barely a second before he felt the blade sinking into his back.

            “Draco!” he heard Harry shouting in panic before a burst of pain emanated from where the knife was embedded in his back and black spots started dancing across his vision, Harry raising his wand and firing off some kind of spell being the last thing he saw before everything went dark.


	15. Important Author's Note

Alright, so, I've been getting quite a few messages recently from both here and fanfiction.net from people asking when I'm going to update and even a few asking if I'm still alive because of how long it's been since I last updated this fic. I've been meaning to write you guys and let you know what's up but, sadly, I have a horribly shit memory and end up getting distracted and forgetting all about it. Thankfully, a recent comment on this fic I just saw in my email reminded me I've been meaning to update you all, so thank you to **that_olivia** for the comment that caught my attention.

Truth be told, I have been in a major slump for quite some time now. I've been really depressed, stressed out, and uninspired to the point where I haven't been able to write  **anything** for any of the fandoms I love and cherish, and not even reading other peoples' fics had been able to inspire me. Writing felt like a chore so anything that I would write felt forced and and sounded terrible to me to the point I would immediately erase it and try again only for the process to repeat itself until I just gave up and put it off to try another day. Other times I would open up my word document to try and write and end up sitting at my computer staring at the stupid writing cursor blinking at me for hours and be unable to type even a single word, and I'm sure most of you could guess this became so frustrating and upsetting to me that I simply stopped trying to write anything at all.

That being said, I recently found a spark of inspiration and I've started writing once again. I recently got all the Harry Potter books as ebooks and started rereading them when I was suddenly in the middle of my reread of Prisoner of Azkaban and had a dream one night. Now, I have been wanting to rewrite the series for quite a long time, but I never dared do it before because I only had the movies and not the books, and as much as I do still love the movies they don't do the books justice and I wasn't about to half-ass a rewrite because I only had one source of material to work from rather than access to both the books and the movies so I could throw in some of those finer details you can only find from the books so that I could get the story to flow much better. Obviously the dream I had kickstarted my inspiration and before I knew it I was starting the rewrite of the series.

I'm currently 60 pages and 36,202 words into the rewrite of The Philosopher's Stone and just don't want to start posting chapters yet since when I start posting chapters without actually being done with a fic it kind of stresses me out and makes me feel like I need to push out chapters faster than I can even think, which then sadly works on my anxiety and makes me feel too anxious to write and then adds to the horrible moods I sometimes get in and I lose all inspiration for writing, and obviously we're back to square one of where I more or less disappear for extremely long stretches of time like recently.

I haven't abandoned this fic, in fact I intend to look back through it and possible rewrite a few things to try and fix it up since I reread what I had written a while back and felt like I could do better. I would just very much like to try and focus on at least getting finished with The Philosopher's Stone first since I've been on a roll with it and don't want to lose the writing momentum I've got going on it. But as soon as I get done and I'm able to start posting it I'll be coming back to this fic and fixing it up and hopefully finally finishing the next chapter I'd already had halfway finished before I fell out of writing. I'm really sorry you've been kept waiting so long for an update, but I appreciate it so much that you guys have stuck with me. I'm not going to rush myself with the rewrite of the first book so I can't tell you guys for sure when I'll be done and looking back over this one, but I  **will** come back to this as soon as I can. And I hope that all of you guys that love this fic will also have a look at The Philosopher's Stone when I'm finished with it.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on this fic and your amazing patience

†Twilight684†


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